eClipse
by GentleColts
Summary: In the years following the events on 'The Ark' and the end to the Human/Covenant War, the Spartan program begins a new, deploying squads to maintain the new ground gained in the war efforts, including Forerunner installations. This is the story of eClipse Team, stationed at a training post near a developing society. However, these men have a growing problem beyond all estimates.


Reimbold, B. Halo: eClipse

Halo: eClipse

**Bill Reimbold**

**Prologue…**

The year is 2556, four years after the Human-Covenant War supposedly ended. Humanity is no longer focusing on the large scale battles that once scared every man woman and child, but have now looked to repopulating their worlds and more. These worlds include forerunner instillations such as the Halo rings. The hero of the Human-Covenant war, Spartan John-117 the "Master Chief" is still listed M.I.A, presumed dead. The U.N.S.C has rebooted the Spartan program, taking a new step into the program at the early stages of the dawn of Spartan IVs, however nothing about the program is perfect. The Spartans, repurposed to combat insurrectionists and remaining Covenant loyalists, face the dangers of not only alien threat, but humanitarian threat.

Forerunner Instillation-05 (renamed Aureola) is the first of the former Halo rings to be colonized by humanity and it is home to multiple Spartan IV deployments including eClipse Team, a roughly four or five man team set out to protect the growing population and train some of the U.N.S.C's newest recruits. They aren't told everything. You aren't told everything. Welcome to Aureola.

**Chapter 1: A Loss of False Hope**

"Sir, is this channel secure?" 2nd Lieutenant Arthur Crypt asked his Commander, Captain Theo Veritas.

"Yes, I think we have this channel secure Echo 2," Theo replied, "Keep in route, we can see the target building up ahead, about 3 cliques north of our current location. And you?"

"Almost there, do you think we can handle this alone?" Crypt asked with a hint of doubt in his voice, which is strange to eClipse Team. Arthur Crypt was usually the reassuring one of the group of men. He had recently joined the Spartan IV Program, and was quickly assigned to eClipse Team when he graduated from basic, advanced, and technological programs. He, it is safe to say, is the tech "wiz" of the deployment. "Command did report about 6 gunmen, all equipped with standard U.N.S.C training armor and Magnums, correct?"

"Sounds about right, but just keep in touch, we'll engage the hostiles from the locations provided earlier." The captain replied. Captain Theo Veritas joined the U.N.S.C as a standard Marine class infantry soldier. He was quickly recognized amongst the corps, and became a well-known figure in the U.N.S.C. What made him so unique could have been his acts of bravery on the front line of war against the Covenant, or it could be his age. He, unlike other men and women, joined at the age of 39. The U.N.S.C wasn't sure about accepting him in his condition, but they, as well as the rest of humanity, knew they needed every person they could get. "Echo 3, you holding up Mouz? What's the situation look like from the rooftops?"

"I can still see four hostiles in the main lobby," The sniper/recon master of the squad, Master Sergeant Trenton Mouz (Mowz), replied. "I presume the other two bogies command mentioned are either in the back, or possibly non-existent, let's hope for the second one."

"Are you still in position on the deli rooftop across the way?"

"Yeah, wait, hang on. I'm checking thermals now. Thermal scans of the building show 8 figures, two are on their knees in a back room guarded by the other two hostiles."

"Hostages…" Theo uttered under his breathe, barely loud enough to transmit though the radio.

"Well this just got a shit-ton more interesting! Eh, Theo?" The voice that was now being projected into everyone's headsets was none other than the team's more "eccentric" explosives technician, Master Sergeant Brandon Walker.

"If you say so Walker," he replied with a sigh.

eClipse was sent on a short notice "Capture and Hold" mission in the beautifully designed city of Civitatem, on the 5th instillation known to the people of its land, as Aureola. But only three years prior, this land would have been dubbed with titles such as Super Weapon, WMD, Doomsday Device, or even Halo.

The remaining rings of Halo that were easily located were soon inhabited. Part of the human races advances to "rebuild" was not simply that. It was also a scheme to gain newly discovered lands, even lands that could depict the fate of the universe. Although these rings may seem deadly, they are a place of serene beauty, vast landscapes with nobody to claim them, except for the early settlers who built these cities. Before any of the seven discovered Halo rings could be inhabited, they were immediately taken offline as the most powerful device in the galaxy. The objects used to activate the rings, the indexes, were discarded as soon as the war had ended.

"Elliot when we pull up to the building, you're with me, stay low, pay close attention to every small detail. Ya got that?"

The passenger of Captain Veritas's Warthog was Lance Corporal Travis Elliot, a quiet guy in his middle 20's, the newest and youngest member of the team. He simply replied to his commander's orders with a nod of his head, and a sharp, "Yes, sir."

The second vehicle, containing Crypt and Walker pulled in behind the O.N.I storage facility. "Sir, we're in."

"Good, hold off until we arrive up front, when I give the order, breach the back door, use the staircase to your left. That will take you up to the main lobby. From there on out, it's up to our guests to decide how we handle this." A moment of silence rang over the comms, then Theo spoke, "We're approaching the structure now, Walker, breach it."

The sound of the breaching packs exploding could be heard from the front of the large, 23 story building which housed thousands of O.N.I files. The usually well-guarded building was suspiciously unguarded at around 8:46 P.M on March 9th, 2556, which is when a group of six men, all wearing standard issue training Spartan armor broke into the building for unknown reasons.

"You ready for the shit-storm, Elliot? Follow my every move. Someone isn't following orders, kill 'em. Helluva first mission, ain't it?" But Theo was right; Elliot had really stepped up to the plate at the wrong time.

Both teams made their way up the two separate, short staircases on the opposite sides of the building, only to find that the doors had been barred from the outside. "Mouz! What can you see, we're on the far side of the building, trying to breach two separate doors that appear to be barred from the outside!" Theo was in a hurry, because the failure to open the doors alerted the enemies inside.

"One of the enemies holding the hostages in the back is now up front with his buds'. Also, they have their weapons drawn, aiming at the door. Good luck."

"Is there any other entrance?"

"Nope."

"Damn, when I give the signal, you're to shoot the deadliest looking one, you got that?"

"Alright, sounds easy enough." Mouz replied to his commanding officer, still unaware if he could pull it off.

Theo turned the conversation back to the men in the building, "Alright men, regroup on me at the bottom of the staircase, ready, break!" The four men ran as quietly as possible down the steps and into the untidy room below. When regrouping, Theo explained the next few steps. "Follow my lead, nobody fall behind. We're going for zero casualties on this mission." Without warning, Theo took off for the staircase, previously occupied by Crypt and Walker. He made his way up to the floor above the one containing the six hostiles, behind him, was Crypt, Walker, and Elliot.

To their luck, the doors we're not locked, or at least if they were, the full strength of Theo's boot kicking down the door spared no lock. He quickly scouted the room, walking over to a portion of the room; he knelt down, as if examining the floor. He could hear the bogies speaking below him.

"Well, I just don't understand what the boss needs with all this stuff, I mean, if he wa…"

"Would you be quiet?" Another voice interrupted. "It's bad enough being sent on a spook-op, let alone having to listen to you bitch and whine about it all day!"

"Both of you's, be quiet!" a third, raspy, voice spoke. "Watch the doors; they could be back at any..."

Theo had heard enough, he had his plan ready from the moment he laid eyes on the room. If he couldn't breach the doors, breach the floors. The rest of the team saw the idea form in their captain's visor.

"Elliot, hand me that breaching pack," Walker said without skipping a beat. The young Spartan did as he was told and in seconds, the floor around them was packed tight with C4.

"You ready team? Get close, we got one shot at this, if you're fired upon, fire back, otherwise, capturing these guys is our main target, ready Walker?"

"On your mark, sir."

"3…2…1…Mark!"

At that very moment, a burst of light and a large explosion was the only sensation felt by the four men. Fear was not an option, nor was any cowardly acts; they were too far into the frying pan to feel such emotions. At the blink of an eye, four Spartans were one floor below the second before. When the smoke cleared they had noticed where they were, about seven feet behind the closest man, who was scared out of his mind at the sudden sight of four super soldiers rapidly falling from the ceiling, with their guns aimed at his forehead.

Once again, it was silent. The room was in a state of such shock, that nobody dared to move or speak. Finally, Crypt managed to regain himself from the fall and he spoke to the people, staring lifelessly at them.

"Drop your weapons and get on your knees, anything you say can, and will be held against you in the…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," One of the cons interrupted, "cut the chat Spartan. We know the drill. One more move, and the hostages die." There was a muffled scream from the back room. Two O.N.I office workers had been taken in a hostage negotiation. The man who spoke seemed to be the leader of the operation. He began to draw his weapon and his comrades did the same.

"We said drop your weapons!" Theo shouted, obviously angry at the five. All of the men, seven in total, heard the sound of a high pitched beeping. Something had finished downloading.

"I don't think you heard us correctly," Walker explained, "you five better drop your weapons, or you will not be leaving here in one piece!" He cocked his magnum, and aimed for the visor of the closest enemy.

"Trying to hack into classified O.N.I files, that's a class one offense." Theo added, "Not to mention the immense damage you caused breaking in here, for example, that gaping hole in the ceiling over there…"

"Don't pull that shit on us, Spartan!" The leader of the thieves replied.

"It's damage that was necessary for your capture." Theo was losing his patience arguing with these brutal thugs. "If you can just cooperate with us long enough to get you out of here…" He stopped mid-sentence and changed the subject, he face Elliot and said, "Go check the back room, there should be a hostage, and one more hostile. Try not to use lethal force." Once more there was a muffled scream from the back room. Elliot replied with a nod, and made his way slowly towards the back room.

As he reached the back door, he could hear a low, crazy sounding voice speaking to what he presumed as the hostage.

"Now get down, weapons down!" He could hear Walker's voice from the main room, speaking loudly to the individual up front. He continued his way closer and closer, now in a separate hallway, he was out of sight from everyone in the hallway. The voice from inside the room stopped, but the muffled noise of the frightened young lady who was taken hostage by these animals for simply doing her job, did not. It seemed as if the rest of the team was having trouble containing the rest of the hostiles. Elliot could make this assumption, just by the shouts of, "Piss off!" and, "Get the Hell away from me!" that he could hear coming from the room behind. Suddenly, the worst case scenario had happened.

Elliot had a very small amount of time to react, the glimmering piece of metal that lay before him would depict his fate. Out from the door to his left, came what at first, he believed to be a distraction, but he later found out it was a flashbang. With just a moment to react, he jumped backwards and threw his arms over his visor to protect him from temporary blindness. It failed. The moment the device went off, chaos broke free in the building. The shock of being attacked by the enemies gave Theo only a split-second to make his decision. The five hostiles had pulled their weapons, and began to attack the team.

Before they had a chance to fire a single bullet, Theo had already given the orders. "Engage! I repeat, all eClipse members engage!" The hostile forces had only begun to fire when their entire force was wiped out. Two from a sniper, conveniently placed on the rooftops across the street, and the rest from the members of eClipse team, that remained in the main room.

When the fighting broke out, Elliot was blinded by the flashbang, his shields had also been considerably low, and he had taken heavy fire to the chest, and lower body area. He had died in the field of honor. His death was quick, and considered painless, but that was only an assumption, nobody, except for Elliot had really known how it felt. How it felt to lose everything on the first real mission. His last words, although not heard by anyone in the room, but were later known from the recordings on his helmet mic, were, "I'm sorry, I…" then silence.

"We're clear!" After the firefight between the two groups was finished, Theo spoke, approaching the doorway that Elliot had entered. "Elliot! Elliot! Crypt, check his vitals, hurry!"

"Alright Elliot, you may feel a slight shock, if you can still feel anything." Crypt spoke fast while he was working to get his tools out.

"Anything?"

"He's gone…"

"Hang on people, we've got a runner!" Walker had noticed the one remaining hostile making a mad dash for the back door.

"Pursue the tango! Shoot to capture permission is granted, leg shots only!" Before Theo could finish giving his orders, the team was already chasing down the one who killed Elliot.

"Captain, if you don't mind me asking, what the Hell is going on in there?" Mouz was not aware of the trouble inside of the O.N.I file storage facility, but that wasn't going to stop him from shooting up any bad guys.

"We'll explain later, dismount your position and get in the fight!" Theo replied.

"Aye, aye, amigo." Without any second thoughts, Mouz was off the building and running full speed towards the O.N.I lair.

"Captain Veritas, what's your status?" Command was trying to reach the commanding officer of eClipse Team, to learn of their progress.

"Not good Command, we're currently in pursuit of a hostile fleeing the scene, we'll explain the situation later, S-488 is out!"

Every remaining Spartan on the team had split up in chase of the last man standing. He had run down the stairs and hopped the railing on the second floor; he was making a rush for the stairs to the first floor when Mouz happened to enter the building through the same stairs.

"Gotcha, bitch!"

The man in the training armor had nowhere to turn, he had turned in the opposite direction to run back up the stairs, but he was countered by Walker, who had just hopped the railing, same as he had only seconds before. With nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, the man gave up.

"I…I'll tell you anything you want to know! Just, please, don't shoot!" he begged on his knees. By this time the rest of the team had caught up.

Theo approached him, magnum drawn, and said in a very hostile voice, "What is your excuse for this! You and your little friends try to hack into the Office of Naval Intelligence, took hostages, and now took the life of one of the bravest young Spartans to ever walk this ring! Pardon my language, but you better have a good fucking reason for this!"

"I...I can explain! I… well… you see," the man, scared out of his mind, continued to stutter.

"We're waiting, Hotshot," Mouz said sarcastically, he was still unaware of Elliot's death.

"I… I work for an organization, I run spec ops missions like this for them, you see? An…And they wanted these, uh, files…"

"What the Hell kind of organization would threaten the lives of harmless people, just to get some files? What's the name of this group?" Theo demanded.

"It… It's Ka…" At that moment, before he could finish the name of the organization that he belonged to, he was shot through the head by an unknown person, who seemed to be firing on him from the rooftops across the ways where Mouz was positioned. What was strange about this, besides the fact of someone else wanting him dead was that the shot was not taken from a normal sniper rifle, but one of Covenant origins. This man, whoever he was, was killed by a beam rifle shot through the head.

"Take cover!" At that moment, every Spartan still standing had dove behind cover, but the shooter was not interested in killing eClipse Team. Theo gave the order not to engage.

"Command, this is Spartan-488," 488 was Captain Veritas's service code. "We were forced to engage the enemies, they were all neutralized."

"Was any information lost?" Command replied after a few seconds of silence.

"Not that we know of, sir." As he was talking, he started slowly walking back upstairs where Elliot's lifeless body lay. "We know that these men were after some sort of access codes. They worked for some sort of organization, but not a lot of detail was spent on that." He approached the corpse.

"Any casualties?"

"Just two… Elliot was lost. The goons used flashbangs to surprise attack him. Needless to say, it worked." He knelt down beside Elliot, and removed the dog tags that had been in his side pouch at the time of his death.

"We're sorry, Captain, he will be missed. And the other?"

"My pride," Theo answered as he lifted Elliot, armor and all, and began carrying him back to the Warthog.

**Chapter 2: Grim Days Done**

Corporal Elliot's funeral was held at the place that he was most likely to call home, Fort Grim. Fort Grim was not a camp, it was not a prison, it was a home. The young Spartans training in the fort outpost were all capable of the tasks they were required to perform, the youngest of the cadets, being only 18 years of age, while the oldest was 29. A standard looking training facility, if any, Fort Grim had a large control center that towered above the base. Glass panels take up all the wall space in the tower, enabling it to have a great view of the entire training facility. Fort Grim is located in a very mountainous region of Aureola, very few of which, exist.

"Detail, Attend, Huh!" The shouts of commands brought the twenty-one riflemen, each of which gripping a DMR, to the position of attention. "Present, Arms!" The rifle platoon all prepared their guns, and aimed towards the sky. As the U.N.S.C Anthem was played, the soldiers all saluted the coffin being wheeled down the middle aisle of Fort Grim's outdoor assembly hall. "Ready, Fire!" The sound of twenty-one guns blazed through the morning air. The anthem had ended, and people were beginning to approach the dead man to pay their final respects.

Theo, being the last to say good-bye, approached the coffin. He uttered, "We'll meet again, in Hell, brother." Figuratively speaking, of course, Theo had no living brothers to his knowledge. He placed the dog tags that he had taken from him when he had died on the side of the coffin, and slowly walked away.

"Helluva man, eh Theo?" Walker, trying to comfort his commander, spoke softly. "He gave his life for a mission that would end up about as successful as…"

"As the most important loss of my life." Theo interrupted. "It's not Elliot personally, but just the fact that one of my men have died while under my leadership. I'm getting old, Walker. These tactics, well they're just about as old as me."

"Sir…"

"No, Walker, don't bother to cheer me up with your petty words. I understand your reasons, and I appreciate it, but this will take a while to get used to. No man or woman will ever fill his shoes. He was young, still had his whole life ahead of him. Nothing was in his way, except for a flashbang, a couple of bandits, and me."

"Sir, you can't blame yourself for that!" Crypt had strutted up half way through Theo's speech. "Those goons killed him! He was just following orders…"

"Orders that I gave him, Lieutenant. But, I guess you can't fix what is beyond broken. Tomorrow, I want the cadets to be looked over, and I want a new member of eClipse team by next week. I don't care where he comes from, I just need him here."

"If you don't mind me asking," Walker blurted out, "what's the rush? Why do we need another member so quickly?"

"We have a rival group out there, some people that obviously aren't too happy about something. Something killed that last man, and it wasn't human. For now, don't worry too much about this, just get some rest, we deserve it." It was the truth. The team had been through a lot in the past few days. The usually boring world of Aureola seemed to be more active lately. The clock struck 12:00 P.M. The time on Aureola was much different from Earth, there are twenty eight hours a day on the ring, leaving 14:00 A.M as midnight. It was now entering after hours in Fort Grim, anybody caught outside of their dorms at this time were to be captured, lethal force, if necessary, was to be used as well.

"So how did you get into patrol duty, Monroe?"

"Just normal rotations I guess."

Two cadets of Fort Grim were on patrol duty about a mile out of the now, non-busy training facility. They were clearly unhappy about their assignment. "Oh yeah? This is my punishment, I got caught trying to take Murphy's rifle, that guy is unreal, he keeps that thing looking perfect!"

"Yeah, that guy is Crypt's bitch. He does whatever he wants, and gets away with it!"

"Shine your light into that bush over there, would ya?"

"Sure thing, would be nice to have that rifle of his. How long are you on patrol duty?"

"About a month. A month of fucking ten below weather and late sleep, Hoo-rah."

From a distant rock formation, which could be considered even as a small cave, a figure watched the two patrollers whine and complain about their problems. He watched very closely and took down notes of everything they spoke about. The man, no, the Spartan quickly shifted over and kneeled down on his other knee.

"Karma, two patrollers, same as usual, nothing appears out of order over here, and you?" Nothing except for the sound of pure radio static was returned to the on looking Spartan. "Check your gear."

"It's a real shame about Elliot, man." One of them said.

"Yeah," the other replied, "Not everyday something like that happens, how was he killed anyhow?"

"Karma," The mysterious watching Spartan said, "I may have something." Whoever he was speaking with over the comms, he appeared to be addressing them as Karma.

"Well, I heard that they used flashbangs to stun him, then, well who knows. All we know is we ended up with a member of eClipse Team dead at our hands."

"Karma, you aren't going to believe this." The strange Spartan's armor colors did not match the standard brown of training, or the deep maroon and black of eClipse Team. His armor was a light white with red shoulders, knee guards, etc. This man, was clearly not from around here. He then ducked under the rock he was using for protection from the patrollers glare. They shined the light on the rock, but did they see him? No, they kept moving as if they hadn't seen anyone. They hadn't seen anyone.

The time was now 14:00 A.M, everybody in Fort Grim was asleep.

"Captain, is… is that you?" From the angle of his bunk, Crypt could barely make out the figure across the ways from him. "Theo?"

"Yeah, I'm up." His raspy voice was now clearer without his helmet muffling his words.

"We got to get some rest, Sir." Crypt was clearly tired.

"Yeah, I know. I can't sleep under these circumstances. Can you tell me what happened a few nights ago, Crypt?"

"Elliot, sir?"

"Elliot. When he died, I didn't know what to feel, Ashamed, angry, fear. These all seem like understandable emotions, but the one that stuck to me the most was astonished." He paused waiting for Crypt to reply, but when he didn't, he continued. "I guess it was just a wake-up call for all of us. I have never lost a man on eClipse before. When they told us that Elliot would be joining us for further missions, I was overjoyed. I was just happy to have another man under my command, I never have experienced death to this degree." He paused. "At least not in the corp."

"But what about back on the Ark? You said you commanded troops during the storming of The Ark. You mean to tell me that you didn't lose a single Marine?"

"Not a soul was lost under my command. I was only a Warrant Officer at the time in charge of a very small platoon. Force Recon, to be exact, but we didn't really confront enemies. Not much action to be had cleaning up after the Master Chief."

"Did… Did you ever meet him?" Crypt was wide awake now at the mention of John.

"Yes, but that's a story for another time. Well, you need to get back to sleep, Crypt. Who knows what will happen tomorrow." Without response, Crypt slumped back down into his bunk. Theo, however, stayed awake pondering his options for the future.

The sound of Radio static filled the comms. "Karma, check your gear, one of the eClipse members might be dead, and I'm following these morons until they enter no-man's land."

"…Wha…..Cli….." These were the only audible noises over the comms besides static. The mysterious figure followed the two oblivious patrollers for almost their whole routine. Still, during the whole time, they babbled on about their problems and thoughts.

"You ever see Veritas's face, man?" The soldiers continued their rant.

"Nah man, he never takes his damn helmet off long enough."

"Yeah, but I saw him once, got the order to go see him early one morning, told me good luck when they sent me in."

"No way! What happened?"

"I got put on patrol duty with this idiot who won't stop talking!"

"Very funny Private Asshole, but what did he look like?"

"Who, Theo? Just about the same as you or me, old though. The guy looks fucked up. He's got a huge scar about three inches long above his left, no right, no, it's his left eye. Battle damaged I guess you could call him."

"Yeah, nothing like Crypt or Walker. Crypt has that whole clean-cut looking black hair and five-o-clock shadow deal going on. Walker, well, we've all seen Blondie walking around helmetless."

"A scar…" The strange Spartan whispered to himself as he walked within earshot of the soldiers. He tried to get a closer view of them. As he approached the creak that they had stopped to converse at, his pace broke a nearby twig. The sudden snapping sound made him jump, as well as it did the other soldiers. They pointed their guns around behind themselves and shouted;

"Who's there?!"

"Come out with your hands up!" The Spartan had slipped away under the cover of the night, and some branches. He was just out of eyesight of the soldiers. "Alright, time to see if this night vision stuff works." Turning on the night vision feature in their helmets, the patrollers moved towards the tree that the noise appeared to be coming from.

"Karma…" He whispered into his headset within his helmet hoping that they could hear him over the radio static. "Now would be a good time to get me out of here."

Approaching the tree that guarded the Spartan from sight, the patrollers checked to see if their weapons were all loaded. "We know you're there! It's no use hiding!" They continued their attempts to draw the person out from behind the tree. They still weren't sure if this was even a person, it could have been wildlife.

"Karma, wait for my signal. You have to take the shot."

The patrollers were coming closer and closer to the Spartan, he had nothing to do, nowhere to run. He was stuck in a very bad situation, or was it? "Freeze!" Both patrollers now had reached the tree, the Spartan was now in full sight of them, lit up by the light of their flashlights.

"Thought you could escape, eh?" One patroller said, not recognizing the armor of the Spartan.

"You're going back to Fort Grim with us. Wait… who are you?" It had dawned on the second patroller that this Spartan was not local, he was also not wearing training armor, or light armor. This man was a Spartan warrior just like eClipse Team.

"Your armor perms, they ain't from around here." The patrollers gazed at him, but he still remained silent. "Talk or put your arms up, either or, bud!"

The Spartan complied, he raised his arms, but not because of the patrollers commands. "Now turn around and walk!" One patroller tried to intimidate the Spartan by raising his weapon to his chest. It didn't work. The Spartan stood as still as the tree he used for cover with his arms raised. "You heard me! Move!" The patroller was becoming upset about the entire ordeal. Static could be heard over the Spartan's comms. Karma was trying to contact him. Was it Karma?

The Spartan closed his hands into fists with a sudden movement. He then dropped his arms almost in the same movement. Before the patrollers could even speak, let alone raise their weapons, a sudden flash from a hill across the creak caught their eyes. A loud "Bang!" was heard and then silence took the night. Not the sound of a single bird, animal, or patroller was heard. The Spartan turned around just to see two dead men in the light training armor that was issued at Fort Grim. "Nice Shot." He uttered.

**Chapter 3: Dead Man's Walk**

Just as every morning, Crypt was first awake. He had awoken at exactly 4:44 A.M. (Not exactly very early when you take the extra two hours into consideration.) He had a funny thing with numbers, that one. He suited up, being that it was his job to wake all of the Spartans-in training.

As he made his way out the door of eClipse Team's private barracks, he noticed Mouz awake in the bunk farthest from himself. Mouz glared at him, and he glanced back. He them turned his attention over to Captain Veritas's bunk, Captain Veritas's empty bunk.

There was a long pause, Crypt was shocked, as was Mouz. Nobody moved until Walker, still asleep, turned over in his bed. "Where is he?" Crypt finally broke the silence.

"No clue, I woke up late last night, he was suiting-up. I asked him where he was going."

"And he said?" Crypt didn't allow time for Mouz to finish speaking.

"He said that he had heard a gunshot, Sniper rounds. I didn't hear anything, he was sure that he heard it so I didn't want to doubt him." Mouz seemed just as puzzled at his own words as Crypt.

"When was this? What time?" Before Crypt could even finish this interrogating form of question, Mouz replied,

"Early, like a few hours ago. No later than 1:00." He had all the answers, didn't he?

"Should we go after him? He couldn't be far!" Crypt was beginning to sound as if the team were about to go awol.

"How about we all go back to sleep!" Walker was now awake, or at least he was partially awake. He clearly did not want to be.

Ignoring Walker, the decision was made. "Suit up Mouz, this might be a long day."

Mouz nodded in agreement as Crypt left the barracks. Crypt, being a Second Lieutenant, was also second in command of eClipse Team after all, and with the absence of Theo, he was needed. Mouz debated on whether or not to wake the troops, but he finally decided not to. If they saw Crypt worried, they might find it as his weakness. Mouz found it very important not to show weakness around the trainees. "Walker, get up you lazy sack of crap! You need to wake the troops, do not, I repeat do NOT let them know that we aren't here. You got that?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." He said as he rose from his bunk still half asleep.

"Think I should have grabbed gunner?" Mouz asked as the Warthog pulled quickly around the side of Fort Grim. He was sitting in passenger seat and he was just now pondering if he should have been on turret.

"I hope you don't have to be." Crypt said while driving past regular speeds along the paved road that separated them from the rest of humanity.

This road was not very long, only around six miles to the nearest town, the small town of Civitatem. It was an industrial town, nonetheless. It housed one of the few O.N.I intelligence storage facilities. Which in essence, makes it quite large.

"What's our route? Did you even try the comms?" Mouz asked in anticipation of the next events.

"He's not replying on the comms, must have it switched off. As for our route, I'm planning on reaching Civ (short for Civitatem), then looping back around, you can try the comms again, if you'd like." Crypt seemed well prepared for this question. Has he ever had feelings that this day would come? "Yeah, it's probably best that you stay shotgun, if you were up on the turret, and we go pulling into town, people are going to start running."

"People go running no matter how we present ourselves. No matter what we do, we are always the freaks in the suits." Mouz also seemed well prepared with his smart-ass comment.

Crypt Chuckled. "Then maybe you outta get on gunner."

The convoy of two had almost reached the half-way point to Civitatem when the comms lit up. First the sound of static came through. "Hear that?" Crypt said turning towards Mouz, briefly taking his attention away from the road.

Then came a deep, raspy, monotone voice. "This is Spartan 488, Captain Commander of eClipse Team. We may have wounded, scratch that." The sound of rustling came over the mic. "We DO have wounded. Presumed dead, M.I.A soldiers are as follows; Monroe A. and Phillips F. Hostile forces are unknown at this point."

"Theo, where are you?! What's going on? Who's dead, now?!" Crypt's mind was on overload, he had just learned that two trainees, for the first time in four years, were dead.

"So many questions, Crypt. I'm at the creek, about ten minutes out of Fort Grim. I'm uploading coordinates now. So sweet of you to try to come and find me, but with all do respects, lieutenant, I can run this show on my own." Theo was shocked as well. How did he know the Spartans were really dead? He hadn't found the bodies.

Driving down by the creek, Crypt was trying to spot anything suspicious. Needless to say, he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. "So how does he know that they died?" Mouz was trying to convince himself that the soldiers were alive.

"He has his ways, I'll never understand things on his level," Crypt had already given up on the feeling of false hope. When Captain Veritas assumes something, it's correct, and if it's not, it will be. Coming up on a sharp turn that leads around the creek, they spot Theo. Crypt speeds up when he sees him, hoping to get there faster, but when the captain cocked his head towards them, he began to slow down.

"Captain, what happened here, where are the bodies?"

There was a moment of silence. Theo finally answered, "I don't know, and I sure as Hell don't want to find out."

Crypt and Mouz focused their attention on the short trail of blood, two short trails of blood. "Well, it looks like the bodies were dragged a short way here," Crypt was clearly just pointing out the obvious.

Mouz butted in with "It looks like whoever did this, decided to hide their work."

"Well they didn't do a very good job, did they?" Theo says this as he holds up a pair of dog tags that must have slipped out of the leg pouch of the patrollers. On it, they read

_PVT. Monroe, Alexander._

_B Company, Fort Grim_.

"Gonna be a helluva time explaining this to command." Crypt seemed to be still pointing out obvious statements.

"What kind of person could move two fully armed Spartans without leaving a trace?" Mouz asked rhetorically.

"Easy," Theo responded, "nobody did."

**Chapter 4: In the Absence of Leadership**

"Left, Left, Left. Right, Left!" Walker calls out cadences as he drills the trainees before breakfast. "Bravo Company!" He calls. This is a strange occurrence for Walker to be doing this by himself. He never marches the companies. Usually, Crypt or Mouz drill the companies until breakfast is served, but because of their absence of leadership, Walker was left on his own.

"Aye, Aye Sir!" The cadet leader of Bravo Company calls. He salutes, and cuts it almost the instant Walker does. Walker leaves the rest of the morning's instructions to be handled by the cadet Spartans. Laziness? Or just lack of orders? As the leadership of B Company pass Walker, the Commanding Officer questions him, "Where's Monroe?"

"Wish I knew, to tell the truth, I wish anybody knew." Walker did not tell a lie, to his knowledge, nobody knew where he was.

"What about eClipse Team?" The young C.O asks.

"Out," Walker's simple one word answer surprises the Officer, and he continues on his way. After all, they did tell him not to let the troops know.

As the last of the companies make their way up for breakfast, Walker approaches the commander that asked him about eClipse and Monroe. "Did anybody see Monroe come back from patrol last night? Or Phillips?"

"I don't think so, I'll double check, but still I doubt anyone saw him, Sir."

"Alright, ask around, find out what your people know." After saying this, he walks away. While he's in line to receive his food, (last, as always) he began to notice just how much different it is without the rest of the team. He finally knows what it's like to be Theo. After realizing this, he thanked God that he wasn't Theo. Walker never liked the idea of being high and mighty. He preferred to remain unnoticed. Mainly so he doesn't have to do any hard work.

A trainee approached Walker while he was eating his meal at the staff table. "Sir, Phillips never returned last night from patrol duty." He states as if he didn't know.

"We've noticed, have you noticed anything suspicious with him? Any motives on running away?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, Sir. Just thought I should report it." He replies.

"Alright, dismissed." Walker replied. During the same meal, three different cadets, from three different companies approached Walker about the missing patrollers. He finally had to make an announcement. "Alright, listen up everyone!" He shouts. "As many of you know, we have two missing cadets. If anyone knows anything about them, their motives, or their whereabouts, report it up the chain of command. Got that?"

"Yes, Sir," nearly a hundred voices uttered.

"Excuse me, Mr. Walker," A frail voice with a slight southern accent spoke from behind Walker. He turned around to see no one behind him except for Dr. Hullerman. Dr. Hullerman was a short man, slightly out of shape, with a dark shade of grey for hair. He was in his mid-60's and was preforming his research on life physics at Fort Grim. "Sorry to waste your time, but have you seen Theo around here lately?"

"Well, good morning, Doctor. I haven't seen Theo since last night. He left on short notice early this morning, he kept saying that he heard gunshots." Walker just wanted to eat his food before it got cold, and it was starting to show by the way he spoke.

"Rather strange," the doctor replied. "If you see him, tell him to come by my office. I may have found something very important in his line of use."

"Will do, doctor, thanks." He spoke as if he understood what this meant, but in all honesty, Walker had no idea what Hullerman meant by "his line of use".

He took only one more bite before a strange sounding voice came from behind him, once more. "You are alone, Walker? Have your comrades left for an important task?" This very deep voice was of Fort Grim's one and only Sangheili soldier. His original name was unknown to the U.N.S.C, and when they first found him, he spoke very little English. The trainees became fond of calling him Chuck, and the name stuck well, even with eClipse.

"Well Chuck," he began, "right now, I don't have the slightest clue where they are, or what they're doing."

"Very well, I have heard of the missing patrollers, I wish you luck in finding your lost brethren," Chuck did not seem too happy with Walker's response, but he walked away as if it satisfied him enough.

After only another bite or two, Walker's comms lit up. "This is Spartan 488, Captain Commander of eClipse Team. We may have wounded, scratch that." We DO have wounded. Presumed dead, M.I.A soldiers are as follows; Monroe A. and Phillips F. Hostile forces are unknown at this point."

"Damnit!" Walker exclaimed loud enough for the nearest company to hear him. He slammed his silverware back into the tray, and without even moving his food, he got up and charged for the door. He ran in a full sprint until reaching the vehicles garage. Going alone, he hopped on a Mongoose Force Application ATV, and rode off towards the gate.

Upon leaving Fort Grim, Walker didn't have to ask about his commander's location. He had already heard Crypt's conversation while he ran down the pathway past the teleportation rooms, used to reach farther destinations quicker. He knew exactly where to find Theo.

He cruised along the waterfront trying to spy his teammates. The creek, about only seven feet in width, seemed to flow along as if it were staring back at him. When he finally came across his team, he found them all, except Mouz, kneeling down next to a couple of broken branches.

As he pulled up to them, he slowed down the vehicle. Crypt and Theo didn't budge, as if he had never arrived. Mouz, however, looked in his general direction, and nodded. "So sorry I'm late, hope you didn't start the party without me!" Walker said unenthusiastically as he approached them. He then saw what they were looking at as well. "Damn," he said under his breathe.

A pool of blood, followed by that small trail, and the blood was plentiful. "How do we know it was them, it could be some type of wildlife, or maybe…"

"This is human blood, I already have it scanned." He was one step ahead of the rest of the team at all times.

"Well, that still doesn't explain what happened to the bodies," someone called out. "Command can't know about this," It was Walker who spoke this time.

"I wish it were that easy, Walker. Command is alarmed when a Spartan's armor pulse detector drops to unconscious levels. They contacted me early this morning. They want us aboard the Infinity to discuss the rapid falling of our squad." There was a long pause.

"When?" Crypt had to know.

"Soon, they aren't happy about this." Theo answered.

"The U.N.S.C Infinity," Walker spoke blankly. "Been there before, right?" He asked this, but nobody answered.

Theo stood up, "Well, if everyone is here, who is watching the trainees?" He pretended as if the subject of the meeting did not concern him. It did.

"Well…" Walker knew he had forgot something.

"Doesn't matter, even if command already knows about the dead guys, and they are pissed at us, we should find out what happened to these guys." Mouz suggested.

"Yeah, we should." Theo says sarcastically as he walks back towards the fort. The rest of the team caught on, Crypt nodded towards Mouz and Walker, and they began leaving the crime scene. Crypt set a beacon at the location of the blood stains for later use.

When eClipse had arrived at Fort Grim, they had found the cadets doing exactly what they were to do that morning. They were to be drilled until each company had surpassed the limit set for them, then they would be turned loose. "Call for an assembly, ten minutes." Theo ordered to Crypt as he walked away from the garage. After Theo had left the building, Crypt nodded as if he could hear his head moving from outside.

"It is dark times for our deployment," Theo spoke to the cadets at the assembly. "We have now lost, not only one of ours, but two of yours." The trainees were shocked and talked amongst themselves briefly. "Cadets Monroe and Phillips were lost to an unknown cause early this morning, and we have now set all focus of events on finding that cause. If anyone has any form of information on their deaths, contact one of the eClipse Staff. Now, as you all may know, I'm not one for words," Everyone knew that. Theo was not a very good spokesman. He let his actions speak for him. "but a moment of silence, for our fallen."

**Chapter 5: PT PT Everyday**

The sound of cadence and trampling of feet filled the air around Fort Grim. "Helljumper, Helljumper, where you been!" Crypt shouted as he jogged alongside Charlie Company. They repeated. "Helljumper, Helljumper, where you been!"

"Feet first into Hell and back again!"

They continued to repeat the lines of the cadence. "Feet first into Hell and back again!"

"If I die please bury me deep!"

"If I die please bury me deep!"

"Place an MA5 down by my feet!"

"Place an MA5 down by my feet!"

"Don't you cry, don't shed no tears!" Although it was bad grammar, whoever wrote the cadence didn't seem to mind.

"Don't you cry don't shed no tears!"

"Just fill my box with P.T gear!"

"Just fill my box with P.T gear!"

Charlie Company, exhausted and out of breath, envied Echo Company. They seemed to be having a much better time with Walker on the shooting range. Half the company was testing reaction time, others were using a variety of weapons to test their own skill.

"Pull!" Walker shouted. On his command, four cadets using the standard magnum turned and fired on their targets. With a quick jolt and triggers being pulled, the outcome showed. "All targets eliminated, well done." Next to Echo, was Bravo Company who were training with Mouz in sniping.

"Your targets are fifty meters down range, you have two rounds loaded in your weapon, take out the target on the first bullet to earn an extra bullet for the next round." Mouz instructed, "Fire on my mark! Three! Two! One! Mark!" Shots rang out, and targets fell. "Three! Two! One! Mark!" He yelled once more. Another round of fire was shot into the targets that had not yet fallen.

"Alright, good," said Mouz, "let's see what you can do at long range. Corporal Peters, set up the targets for long range encounter, 100 meters."

"Yes, sir!" The young cadet spoke and began to run out towards the targets at nearly the same time.

Delta Company was on the obstacle course. The obstacle course was simple, yet it posed a difficult challenge to many. You start out on a low area covered with dirt and leaves. From there you must sprint up towards a vertical wall about seven feet high, climb it, and jump towards another wall, this time with a rope hanging down from it. You must grab the rope and scale the wall, once you've reached the top of this wall you must scale down the other side doing something similar to the side before it. When you've reached the ground, you must run and jump over four hurdles, and duck under two walls, all without slowing down your pace. After that you must crawl through a trench covered with barbed wire. When you've completed your crawl, you move onto the grav lift. You are shot into the air at a horizontal slant and must grab one of the four hanging ropes that are above you, from there you must slide down the rope and you have successfully completed the course.

Theo was watching the cadets run the course from a small office that overviews the obstacles. He carried with him a notepad, a pen, and a timer. "Snatching a new one?" Crypt's voice said from behind him. He quickly spun around and said,

"Not yet, not from here." Crypt knew what he meant by this and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm not sure any of them could handle the constant pressure it is to be on eClipse Team. They have to be able to save the world then look the other way." Crypt spoke in a low voice.

"Who said anything about looking the other way?" Theo stated. "If I saved the world, I would expect the attention that I damn well deserve!" It was apparent that he was now just joking around with Crypt.

"Yeah," Crypt said under his breath while chuckling a bit to himself. "What does command want from us? What do they want from this meeting?"

Theo sighed, then he said, "Probably something to do with the rapid deaths around here, Colonel Hammel doesn't seem too pleased, but then again, Kreig never was easy to please." Crypt opened his mouth to talk but was interrupted by Theo writing something down on his notepad.

"Who could move two complete Spartans in armor without leaving a trail?" Crypt changed the subject, but to an even worse matter.

"To tell you the truth, I hope I never find out." Captain Veritas said as he walked closer to the window. The elevator door leading to the office they were currently in opened slowly. Both Spartans turned their heads around to see who decided to pay them a visit. It was Doctor Hullerman.

"Hello Captain Veritas, hello Crypt. How are you both?" He asked. Bitter sweet, it was an obvious answer.

"Fine"

"I've been better"

Both were said at the same time. Unknown who said which, the Doctor went on his business. "Crypt, would you be kind enough to leave for a moment, I need to speak with your commander."

Crypt shrugged, said "Sure thing," and left the room.

"What's this about, Doctor?" Theo asked.

"Well, Mister Veritas, I think I may have discovered something very crucial to your stay here. You have been worrying that you will meet the forced retirement age before you get to fulfill your promise, correct?"

"Ye…Yeah." Theo stuttered.

"Well, I believe I may have something that can help with that. Please, follow me to my lab." Hullerman spoke with a purpose, he was clearly proud of whatever it was that he had discovered. When Hullerman had left the room, Theo followed until he had remembered something. He turned around and quickly took the notepad with him.

"What have you discovered?" Theo asked as they walked down the old rustic hallways of Fort Grim.

"Something big, something very, VERY crucial to your abilities in the field."

"Some kind of steroid? That's not my kind of thing, doc." Theo said as he passed by a saluting cadet officer. He returned the salute and continued walking at the same pace as before.

"Oh no, nothing like that, I will explain more when we arrive." The old doctor said.

Arriving in Hullerman's research lab, Theo began to realize how little he's been seeing of the Doctor recently. The research labs were located underground in Fort Grim. This was originally a design flaw with the base, It had no extra space where the Doctor could perform his work, so the only choice was to go down. When building the lab, they discovered a natural pool of water located underneath the surface. The lab was mostly on a landing above this lake.

Theo and the Doctor were now alone in the laboratory, nobody else had access clearance for the place. "Stay here for a moment, Captain." Hullerman uttered as he approached his computer. Theo took a step back and leaned against the railing, looking down at his reflection in the water. "Here we are!" the Doctor said as he pulled up a file on the large screen in front of both of them.

Theo noticed the name first. 'Project: Albino V.2'. "What is this?" He asked.

"What isn't it?" Hullerman answered. "This is the greatest discovery to come out of this ring. This is Crodanium Sulfite, or Albino as I've dubbed it." There was a moment of silence, and the look on  
Theo's face inside his helmet clearly read "Get on with it". "This is a serum that does more than its fair share of tampering. It will enhance your abilities beyond that of even a Spartan could reach naturally."

"So, it is a steroid?" Theo assumed.

"No, it is most definitely not a steroid. Because, not only does it enhance your abilities, such as agility, strength, and I'm assuming willpower, but it does something that I would have never deemed possible." Silence, once again. Then Hullerman finally spoke up. "It can prevent the aging process, or at least slow it down. You might be able to fulfill your promise."

"You keep mentioning that, but how do you know about it?" Theo asked as he stopped reading the information on the Albino Serum.

"I've read everyone's files, here. I have been stationed here longer than anyone, I know all about her, Theo. I just want to help with this."

The Doctor and the Spartan both stood in silence. One gazing at the information that stood before him, one watched the other in amazement. "I want to see testing before I will consider using this stuff, how do you use it anyhow?" Theo demanded to know.

"Injection. Just one injection in the bicep, after this, it should circulate throughout your body. I have only produced a very small amount."

"Well, have you tested this on any human, yet? You seem to know a lot about it." Theo appeared to be doubting the Doctor's knowledge.

"No… No you would be the first human ever to experience this type of power." Hullerman sounded unsure as well.

Theo removed his helmet, which he rarely ever does, grabbed the scientist by the shoulder and said, "I am not the first person to test this, am I?" There was a long silence, Hullerman was clearly startled, and Theo looked ready for anything.

"Yes, you are the first." The Doctor reassured him. Theo gave him a cold, doubting look, then began to put his helmet back on.

"I want you to be sure about that stuff, Hullerman, before you put anyone in danger with this, I need to know if it even has the same effect on humans. Where did you say this stuff was discovered?"

The Doctor was caught off guard by this question. "This is Crodanium Sulfite, it was discovered on Harvest before the Covenant attacked. My father discovered it before the attack, but he could never complete his work on the serum. He passed the research onto me."

Theo could no longer doubt the source of the Albino, he could never doubt anything that has to do with losing family. "Carry on with your work, if you find any more compelling evidence that this stuff is not hazardous, I will test it. Oh, and Doctor?" Hullerman looked up at Captain Veritas's visor. "That promise is what is still keeping me around, you can leave that portion to me." They exchanged nods, and Theo walked out of the lab, onto the surface, and for once felt ashamed for the reason he had been sticking around the U.N.S.C for so long.

**Chapter 6: Amidst the Shadows**

"Listen up! The Captain has ordered for an enhancement in patrol details. I will be manning the watchtower along with three others. There will be eight total patrollers on deck of Grim at all times, two north, two south, two east, two west." The instructions Mouz gave were plain and simple. "First company up for this duty is Charlie!" And, like with all bad news, a deep sigh could be heard from Charlie. Mouz chose to ignore it. He wasn't exactly that ecstatic for the update on security either.

As he began to call off the names of the unlucky cadets for security detail, Crypt and Walker watched from the balcony of the barracks. "Think he'll get lonely being up there all night?" Walker said sarcastically as he pointed up at the watchtower. The watchtower at Fort Grim was much different. It was used as the docking bay, main control center, advantage viewpoint, and of course watchtower. It was the kind of building that children of Civitatem would point and make jokes at from the safety of their homes, yet they never knew what, or why it was.

"Nah, he just loves telling people what to do." Crypt replied with a smirk. "Almost as much as he loves tall, glass towers at night, apparently."

"What was he thinking volunteering for the night shift with all this crap going on?"

"Hey, who knows," Crypt responded, "Face your enemies up front, I suppose."

After a moment of silence and thought Walker remarked, "Unless they face you first." He then took a sip of the soft drink he held in hand. Alcohol wasn't allowed at Fort Grim or any other U.N.S.C training facility.

"Nah, I think he just wants to get a fix on whoevers been stalking the night around here."

"Either way," Walker spoke, "Be glad it's not one of us up there." He finished off the remaining soda drink, patted Crypt on the back and headed to bed. Crypt glanced up at the large gleaming tower before him, nodded as if it were watching over him, then left for the comfort of his own barrack.

Theo sat in the barracks, helmet off, cleaning his rifle. He glanced out the window momentarily noticing the bright light which shone in the tower. With a short sigh he continued his work, minding nothing of it. He was alone in his quarters, Walker nor Crypt had turned up yet. Before he could get his mind set back on the rifle that lay before him, someone had appeared on the opposite side of the closed door. Captain Veritas turned his attention to the presence, sitting up a bit more than usual, eyes squinted a bit. The scar that lined the skin above his left eye grew crooked as he waited for the person to enter or knock on the door.

Nobody did. Instead, a piece of paper slid under the door and as quickly as it appeared, whoever was at the door was gone. Theo stood, looking over the paper on the ground. Before picking it up or minding it any attention, he opened the door and checked for this presence. Nobody was there. He then shut the door and glanced over towards the paper.

It was a small piece of paper folded in half with the words "CPT VERITAS" written in red ink on the side that was face up. Theo stared at it blankly before kneeling before it and picking it up. He held it in his hand examining the print of his name on the front. Whoever's handwriting it was, it was flawless. He stood, and unfolded the paper. It was a document, a file. A file on a Spartan. Captain Veritas saw the words printed at the top _'Brief Documentation of eClipse-5: Travis Elliot'. _

He became infuriated, turning his attention on the entrance to his barrack, he kicked the door open with his bare foot, stepped out looking both left and right and exclaimed, "Will the world give me a dammed break!?" He clenched his hand into a fist, crumbling the paper without reading it, and tossing it back into the room. It landed on the floor next to his bed, where he let it lay solemnly on the ground.

The next morning, eClipse Team was to attend their meeting aboard the Infinity, which would make its rounds back to the Ring to monitor the growth and expansion of the colonists. Captain Veritas went back into his room, nearly slamming the door behind himself and sat on the edge of his bed. He looked over on his nightstand where a picture of a much younger, much happier man stood with his wife. The woman in this picture wore a long white, elegant dress to signify that she was a bride. The man wore a black tuxedo suit with a white flower on the pocket. Next to this framed photograph was a jewel encrusted necklace.

Theo gently grasped the photograph, staring at the man and his happiness. He ran two fingers across the embedded words on the frame that read; _'Mr. and Mrs. Theo Veritas. October 23__rd__, 2538'. _He gazed upon the necklace on his table with unseeing eyes. He mumbled under his breathe, "I won't let you down, Amber." Then placed the framed picture back on the nightstand, lying down in his bunk, shutting his eyes but not sleeping.

Mouz watched over the landscape surrounding Fort Grim, his shift was almost over, yet he stood his post with as much diligence as possible. "Not losing another tonight," He kept repeating whenever someone asked him to take a break or loosen up. He shone the white lights of the tower into every nook in and out of the base. He clutched his SRS99 in his hand, glaring out of the reflective glass pane windows.

On the cold asphalt 15 stories below, a shadow crept among the guards. Two cadets on patrol were circling the barracks with a stern, hard-ass posture. They weren't speaking to each other like most of the to-be-Spartans on patrol. Instead, they stood by without a sign of any let-up.

The shadow stalked them in the night like a predator watches its prey. Slowly crouching behind a decorative garden piece, he observed his prey. The shadowy figure drew his knife, the light from the tower glistened off the blade.

Mouz watched over the training grounds without allowing his expression to change. The maroon shaded soldier observed everything in his line of sight. Before turning his attention to the front gate, he noticed a small glare. Without any discernable source, he sat up in his seat, his eyes squinted looking over the dark area. Whispering, "The Hell?.." lightly under his breathe. "Novice, light up sector 2C."

The robotic, monotone voice of eClipse Team's artificial intelligence core, Novice, replied. "Lighting Sector 2 Charlie."

The cold hearted shadow grasped the knife in one hand, tossing it slowly around in his mitts. The predator observed his prey in the dead of night, without a sound to be heard. He peered around the corner, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Suddenly and without warning, the spotlight shone on the barracks. The shadow, turned to a blur, turned to a Spartan hid behind the planter he used for cover. He prayed he would not be spotted by the towering beast that stood behind him. The patrollers held out a hand in front of their visors to keep from being blinded by the sudden flash.

"K-Karma..?" The once shadow, now man spoke nervously and quickly. A voice replied over his comms. "I-I… They're shining the light on me... I haven't been caught yet, but soon enough…" Before he could finish his sentence, a shot was fired from a silenced rifle.

The Spartan atop the tower stared at the origin of the glare. Unable to determine what caused it. Mouz spoke, "Novice, bring up security camera 2C dash…" A shot was fired, silenced and unheard by anyone on base. Before he could finish his command, a camera came crashing down from the barracks.

"I'm sorry, Sergeant Mouz, I did not understand your command." The computer spoke.

The call came over from the patrollers, "Sir, camera down in Two-Charlie. Permission to inspect?"

"Granted…" The one solitary word dismissed the guards of their post. As they inspected the fallen machinery, the shadow in the spotlight sighed with relief. He took his chance, the spotlight began to grow dim as he darted across the pavement and behind the barracks. Each step causing a slight splash in the puddles of water which rained down hours before.

He made it successfully behind the solid barrack walls, once again sighing with relief. "Karma, moving on to the lab…"

A shrill female voice spoke over. A small hint of a once British accent came over the wavelength, "I'll watch your arse from out here, just as long as you watch it from in there."

"Can always count on you for support, is that right?"

"Whenever you're not too busy bitching and actually getting shit done, then yes. Now go." As short sided as the conversation was, it was more than enough. The guards had returned to their post, and the spotlight focused on the space where the shadow once stood.

Mouz stood leaning forward, hovering over his work station, eyes squinted. The warrior focused on the land below, taking in every detail of the night. Suddenly, a figure darted across the night, behind the grasps of the patroller's eyes, and behind a building. "What the Hell?" Whispering to nobody, Mouz took the scope of his rifle and scanned the area with it. He saw no one below. "Novice, bring up security camera 2E-1." Without response, the artificial intelligence brought up the viewpoint of the camera for the specified sector. The angle was displayed on the screen before him. For a moment, it seemed like he caught a glimpse of a blur, moving quickly to the right of the screen, out of view. But it was also dark, and the cameras were unreliable. He thought nothing of it. Instead, Mouz slumped back into his seat, resting his weary eyes.

**Chapter 7: Infiltration**

The doors opened before him, the shadowy figure who stalked the night without a grasp of reality now stood before the staircase that would lead him to the laboratories underneath Fort Grim. He took in a gasp of air, then slowly crept his way down the empty hallway. The ceiling lights dangled down from the slanted staircase, each one turned dark without being switched on.

The light clang of boots now became apparent. The shadow that once became a man, now became a figure, which upon reaching the laboratory, became a Spartan. In the dim blue glow of the consoles and computers, the man stood in his suit of war. The colors sloppily painted white and red over the original coat. A small symbol painted over the Armor's I.D read "White Plague".

The man cautiously stepped over the wiring and clutter of the oasis laboratory. The entire workspace, suspended over a lake of crystal clear water in a cavern under the base. This rogue Spartan slowly made his way to the main console where Doctor Hullerman's diagnosis on Albino stayed glued to the screen. Turning on his communications link, "Karma?... We hit the jackpot. We've got everything from chemical compounds to effects of the new serum."

The frill sounding voice now seemed a bit more enthusiastic, "Upload the image from your visor to base and let's get the Hell outta here, Zakk!"

"I'm uploading now. It may take a few seconds granted the fact that our hardware is out of date." The image from his visor began to transmit back to the woman. Zakk scanned the room without turning his head so he wouldn't obscure the image of the computer screen. He viewed the room with simply turning his eyes inside his helmet. Observing all of the specimens and tests that the doctor had been running the night before.

"Got visual!" the woman called Karma spoke, "Damn… You weren't kidding. The old man's got a lot more than last time…"

"Karma… This stuff looks different from last time." Zakk approached a vile of the prototype Albino. The thin white chemical bubbled under a heating lamp left on overnight. "Should I take some samples? Or, Hell, want me to grab the whole damn tub of it?"

"Your ego is starting to surpass your abilities, Zakk. Just make sure you don't fuck up." The comm channel was ripe with static.

"I'm very much capable of sneaking out of here the same way I came in." A bit angry, the shadowed man referred to as Zakk kicked over an unimportant looking piece of scrap on the floor over the railing and into the water a good 30 feet below. The crystal water rippled with the reflection of the monitors above. "You get what you need yet?"

"Just calm down, moron. Stand closer to that monitor so I can get a better read on it." She barked orders at him as if she were his mother.

"You always say the nicest things." He said over sarcastically while approaching the console. He read into the words that were inscribed onto the screen.

_ Test Subject Journal: Entry 7_

"_Day 3 of tests have proven Crodanium Sulfite to effect lifespan of Tributan, Earth, and Echosian Fauna. The plants had a stunning growth spurt over the week they were exposed to the chemical mixture. In other notes: Captain Veritas seems to be becoming more intrigued by the effects of the serum. If he continues this interest, hopefully he will agree to the testing._

_-Dr. Richard Hullerman._

"No… NO… Karma! We're going to have a huge problem sooner or later!" The channel was silent, nothing but the sound of static. No voices were heard and suddenly there was an eerie silence in the underground platform. "Karma? Karma?! We have a problem! Look, We're going to have to do something before we're in more trouble than we already…"

"You say that like you want more trouble." Behind Zakk, a man stood. A tall man in his late forties, a Caucasian man with a light tan over his skin. His face was slightly wrinkled, specifically his forehead and around his eyes suggesting his old age. His head was freshly shaved, giving the illusion of baldness. His chin was pointed, a lightly visible grey aftershave was lit around his mouth, stretching up behind his ears. He was dressed in a dark grey and maroon jumper that stretched out tightly over his muscular build. The most distinctive feature of this man was quite possibly the large scar over his left eye. Theo Veritas stood in the doorway of the dimly lit room, holding an M-5 Magnum at his waist. He cocked the gun back, almost as if he were taunting the trespasser, and slowly aimed it at the man. His raspy voice spoke loudly. "Listen to me, dickweed, you've either got the biggest balls I've ever seen, or you're one stupid mother."

Zakk took a step back and gulped audibly. He tried to speak, but his words were lodged deep in his throat. Theo spoke for him. "Let's start with the fact that when you're sneaking into someplace, Hell, especially a well-guarded military base, the absolute WORST thing you can do is waltz right past my goddamn window. I mean, I've heard of stupid, but you must be advanced stupid."

Zakk took another step back slowly. He gulped down his words in one large gasp as he broke out into a cold sweat inside his suit. Whispering, "Shit…"

Theo nearly shouted as he took a step forward, the pistol held at eye level. "Second, where in the name of Christ did you get that suit, boy!?" Captain Veritas had a very slight southern sounding accent when he became infuriated, as did most Tributans. He shook the pistol as if threatening to pull the trigger, "Answer the question!"

"Stick it up your ass, old man!" Zakk immediately regretted his choice of words, knowing that they would probably land him in deep trouble one day. If there was any day that was more apparent to this fact, it was now.

Theo stared into his visor with a look of utter hatred, wanting to pull the trigger and drop the man dead, but there were too many unsolved questions for him to sacrifice the opportunity. "You're pushing your luck here. Who sent you?! Where did you get that armor?!"

Zakk took a bold move and stepped forward, swallowing all of his remaining dignity. "Same place you got yours. They don't exactly hand out these suits on the streets."

Theo squinted his aged eyes, his scar wrinkling above his left eye as he focused on the surroundings. He looked for any tactical advantage he could have over the rogue Spartan. He found his high ground and without hesitation, slowly and calmly lifted the weapon above his head. Zakk trembled in his boots, not knowing what to expect, he braced himself, clenching tight in his armor.

After what seemed like minutes, a shot rang out in the claustrophobic space underground. Bullets flew into the scaffolding above the two warriors, and some stalagmites were ripped apart. Chunks of heavy rock fell before the armored Spartan. Zakk dove behind a desk and some computer consoles with a loud clang of his chest plate. Theo understood that he could not outmatch the perpetrator in hand to hand combat while unarmed, but his objective was to capture the man, not to kill him. He fired off a shot into the chair next to the desk. Zakk crouched in terror as it collapsed in front of him and on to the floor before him.

With little hesitation, Zakk grabbed a steel bar that fell from the exploded chair and threw it with great force at Captain Veritas. The metal flew through the air like a spear and Zakk darted quickly behind another console, slowly advancing on Theo. The unarmored man dove out of the way of the makeshift projectile. He leaned around the desk and fired off two more shots at Zakk, one striking the desk and the other piercing straight through a computer monitor.

Theo shot his last bullet into the air at another rock formation that hung directly over Zakk's head. The projectile pierced through the earth and crushed the stone, sending a large jagged chunk of earth spiraling towards him. The white Spartan lunged towards Theo, attempting to strike him. Captain Veritas blocked his punch, countering it with the butt of his magnum crashing into his opponent's visor.

Zakk groaned in pain, staggering back slightly before kicking out Veritas's feet. He swept his legs out from underneath him, and Theo nearly came crashing down. Instead, the captain threw his body weight backwards, clutching the railing behind him for balance. Zakk unsheathed his knife and held it pointing at Veritas's neck. "You didn't see anything here tonight, and you do NOT follow me, understand?" Zakk tried to convince Theo to ignore the encounter. He was unsuccessful.

"I see an idiot who doesn't know how to hold a knife." He calmly replied as he flung one arm around Zakk, the other clutched the blade. Theo was now in possession of the weapon, but still did not have the upper hand. The Spartan in white struggled and broke free of Captain Veritas's grasp with great effort, yet he still did not hold the knife. Zakk staggered backwards facing his opponent, although defenseless, he was still wearing the armor and therefore had the advantage. Theo knew this, but did not allow it to bother him. The man in the armor turned to view his exit route for a split second. His biggest letup.

Captain Veritas lunged forward and stabbed at Zakk's shoulder region where the armor was less dense, but before he made contact, the Spartan threw up his left arm to block the blade. The cold dagger ate right through his Tac-Pad that was mounted on his left wrist. The screen shattered and blue sparks flew. Zakk grunted in disgust and pushed Theo off of him and into a stack of consoles. He darted backwards for the door while Theo staggered to his feet, hopped over the rubble of fallen Stalagmites, and hopelessly chased him for a yard or two. "Dammit!" He threw the knife to the ground in anger. "Novice!"

Suddenly, a small yellow holographic image of a middle aged man in a stunning outfit appeared on the AI display pedestal by the entrance to the lab. The foot tall man wore a large drooping trenchcoat that reached down to his feet. He shimmered yellow with the glow of the Holograph, and he wore some glasses to match his exotic outfit. "Yes sir?"

Theo was panting for air, recovering from his fight, "Alert… Mouz…"

"Alert him of what, Captain?"

"Tell him to watch the shadows…"

**Chapter 8: Infinity**

The cockpit of the Pelican dropship carrying eClipse Team rumbled back and forth with turbulence. The four Spartans were fully armored with the exception of helmets and seated in the back, alone. Crypt and Theo sat on the left of the Cockpit, Walker and Mouz on the opposite side, facing them. "Are we there yet?" Walker sat, impatiently in his seat, squirming around a bit like a child on Christmas morning.

Crypt replied, "Why don't you stick your head out the window and find out."

"Why don't these things have windows?" Walker buried his head in his hands when replying to Crypt's sarcasm.

Mouz butt in with, "Why would we need them? I can tell you exactly what it looks like out there. Pitch black with the occasional glow. Space isn't very glamorous, Walker."

"But at least we would have an idea of where we're possibly going." Walker continued his whining.

Novice appeared on the console near the cockpit door, creating a yellow ominous glow in the claustrophobic space. "eClipse Team, Colonel Hammel is hailing you from the Infinity Bridge. He wants an estimated time of arrival." The computer's voice, although monotone, was slightly soothing.

Walker sat up and spoke, "You see… Windows would be useful at this very moment."

Theo shook his head sarcastically, "Novice, ask the pilots and return their answer to the Colonel."

Novice glanced over at Walker with a look of concern for a brief moment before turning his attention back to Theo, "Ay, Captain." Then as quickly as he came, he shimmered off into the cockpit. After a few seconds of silence, the Pelican shifted and began flying much faster than before.

"What's with the sudden change in speed? Co-Pilot's got to take a whiz?" Walker sounded as if he had a bit of concern where his sarcasm used to be.

Theo looked and sat up taller in his seat, "Either that, or the Colonel is becoming impatient." The dropship approached a massive sledge of steel that hung suspended in space. The U.N.S.C Infinity was the largest ship ever constructed by mankind. Over three miles long, it was viewed as the backbone of human expansion after the Covenant War ended three years prior. Infinity was home to over 10,000 passengers, including several companies of Spartan IV's, scientists, and crew. It happened to be the command center for eClipse Team, as well as hundreds of other deployments.

The Pilot's voice was heard over the intercom inside the Pelican, "30 Seconds 'til docking with Infinity. Gear up, eClipse." Theo rose from his seat, stretching after the four hour flight to command and the rest of his team did the same. They crept into the hanger of the Infinity, and suddenly, the vacuum of space was sealed off behind hanger doors.

A jolt was felt as the dropship landed inside the city sized command vessel. All eyes were turned on the Pelican door as the outside light of the hanger shone through it, slowly opening. Once their eyes had adjusted to the sudden light, eClipse Team looked out over the gigantic room that they now stood in. Companies of Spartan's marched to and from smaller ships, a team of scientists rushed into a connecting hallway, two lower ranked officers saluted the deployment as they exited their Pelican.

Captain Veritas returned their salute, and his team followed him out. A woman in a newer model of Spartan IV armor approached. She was outfitted for combat, yet her armor was spotless and a deep silver. She didn't wear her helmet along with her armor and she stood about a few inches shorter than Theo. "Commander Palmer, Sir." Theo barked, saluting the woman.

"At ease, eClipse. You're gonna want to cut the formalities, Captain. Hammel wants to see you ASAP." Palmer wasn't in the talking mood, but she never was.

"So I've heard, Commander."

"He's up in the bridge. He said he'll update your Tac-Pad with a waypoint so you don't get lost." Palmer nearly smirked while talking.

"So he doesn't trust me to find the damn bridge on my own?" Captain Veritas gave her a bit of attitude with his response.

"After what you've managed to screw up, no he doesn't." She nodded with an almost angry look in her eyes and stormed off to yell at the other deployments.

Theo checked his Tac-Pad and got the location of the Colonel. As they were walking away, Crypt caught up with him and made a brief comment of "Some things never change…"

eClipse Team reached the bridge after what seemed like an eternity of walking through crowded corridors and taking wrong turns. The doors to the room that housed Colonel Hammel were oddly shut, and on approach did not open. Without warning, the ship's AI, Roland appeared on a console in front of the door. The shimmering, foot tall man was a light yellow color. He sharply resembled a late 19th century pilot and spoke with a strong voice for a computer. "Wait here, eClipse Team. The colonel wants to see you one at a time. Uh, let's see here…" The AI paused for a moment and seemed to be awaiting a response, suddenly it came to him, "Arthur Crypt? You're up."

The door slid open, the room inside was dimly lit and hardly visible. Crypt slowly walked into the dark chamber, looking back at his comrades and nodding before the door shuts eerily behind him without cause. Walker sat down on a bench near the entrance, sighing, "For whom the bell tolls, eh Cap'n?"

Theo slumped down next to him, "Crypt first? I must've fucked up beyond belief then." He jokingly nudged Walker, which was rare for Veritas. Mouz sat on the bench beside them, arms folded. They waited for what seemed like hours, in reality it was much closer to 30 minutes. They sat in silence for nearly the whole time, like school children who had been busted for fighting or swearing on the playground, awaiting their turn to be scolded by the Principal.

After what felt like an eternity, Roland reappeared on the console. "Walker, B.?" He looked over at Walker, who stood stretching and over exaggerating his groans. "Any day now, glamour boy." Roland's sarcasm wasn't too far off of perfectly describing Walker.

"Yeah, yeah…" Walker hit the console when passing into the dark conference room. Roland shimmered in and out of existence for a moment.

"Prick…" He then disappeared from the room once as he'd done before.

With only two Spartans left waiting for their conference, little to no talk was made. At one point Theo, with arms crossed faced Mouz and solemnly said, "Your cousin's an idiot." Mouz's cousin, Tom attended Fort Grim as a trainee, and Theo's comment certainly was not an understatement. The other cadets referred to him as "Mouse" due to his weak and idiotic nature.

Mouz just chuckled looking off and responded, "Heh, suppose he is. The kid is clueless."

Theo just laughed and looked down at his feet. After that, the two didn't make much of a conversation. There wasn't much to discuss while waiting for the scolding that awaited. Theo sat with his arms folded, staring at the low hanging ceiling. He turned his attention to several things, including a small pipe above him that seemed to be leaking it's contents. The world swirled in front of his face from boredom. Spartan's don't regularly stay still for long periods of time. The occasional Marine would pass through the hallway and give Veritas and Mouz a strange look before scurrying away.

Mouz was a particularly tall, clean cut man. He had short brown hair that looked nearly shaved and small sideburns that stretched down to his cheekbones. His cousin had begun to attend Fort Grim that year as a trainee, although he lacked the skills needed.

After another silent eternity, the cold metal doors slid open. "Trenton Mouz." A cold, monotone voice called from behind the door. Mouz was nearly startled by this, and nearly jumped up, staggering to his feet. He nodded at Theo as he made his way behind the doors. CLANG. They shut behind him hardly giving him enough room inside.

Now alone, Theo sighed with a sound of disappointment. The type of sigh a school child would receive from their disappointed teacher or headmaster. But there was nobody else in the room with him to hear it, he was alone sighing to himself. He reached into his pouch that was strapped to his leg and from it, a necklace emerged. The same blood stained necklace from the other night.

He held the jewel encrusted accessory in his fingertips, slowly caressing it. He sighed that familiar sigh and shook his head with disbelief. He turned it over and on the back of the necklace, read the inscribed writing;

_ Amber Faith Veritas_

_ October 23__rd__ 2548_

The date was partially stained over with a deep blood-red dye, as were the gems. Theo's maroon armor nearly matched the color of the blood that shone on the necklace. He shifted his body, now holding the accessory in both hands, his thumbs pressed up against the large gem in the center. He shut his war torn eyes, almost in a state of prayer.

The day he dreaded flashed before the blackness of his gaze. "Theo! Theo, please!" He dropped the necklace and opened his eyes, looking up around the room. Nothing had changed. He was still an empty man in an empty room. He leaned over and retrieved the dropped object, returning it to his pouch.

Theo slumped back in his seat with his hands folded in his lap, his eyes shut and he rested. He needed the rest for the challenge before him. Colonel Hammel could have a number of things to discuss, he could have nothing to discuss. Either way, the stress overwhelmed Theo as he awaited the results.

It wasn't nearly as long before the doors opened again. Around 20 minutes or so when the doors slid open with a loud thud. This time, Colonel Hammel stepped out of the room, without speaking the old man gestured at Theo to enter, then turned and walked back to the darkness of the meeting hall.

The Spartan stood, stretching his back after sitting for so long, then he trailed behind the Colonel into the darkness. The doors shut behind him, and there was silence. Nothing could be seen except for the glow of a window behind the silhouette of a man. The Infinity was in orbit around the planet Tribute, Captain Veritas's home planet.

A lightly aged monotone voice spoke, "Captain."

"Colonel." Theo responded. The silhouette did not move, but simply continued to gaze out the window.

"Take a seat, Captain." Theo did as instructed, pulling out the seat that lay tucked under the desk. He sat in silence for a moment until the silhouette spoke again, "Quite the history, that little planet."

"Yes sir. My home turf," Theo responded.

"Tell me about the history of it, Captain Commander."

Captain Veritas tried not to stutter, "Well, years back the covenant discovered Tribute, which had remained out of the war for as long as possible. They attacked the capitol, my home town, and pillaged the place. Didn't leave much but some ash and sickening stench in the air."

"You were present when the Covenant attacked your city, were you not?" The voice of the man remained monotone, without emotion.

"Y-yes sir. I was present, but not serving the UNSC at the time. I was still…"

"A civilian." The Colonel interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

"Yes, sir."

"What were you doing when they attacked?"

The question caught Captain Veritas off guard. "W-what, sir?"

"Did I stutter, Captain?" The voice grew sharper and slightly angry, as if annoyed.

Theo gulped, "No… Sir. On that day… I was, out. In town."

"Doing WHAT." The voice barked at him from behind the desk, still not facing Theo, but glaring out the window. He asked a question, but it showed no inquisitive nature in his voice.

"I was… doing errands. Normal civilian things." Theo clenched his fist while he spoke, now becoming angry at every word.

"Who were you with?" The monotone voice grew slight emotion when it was heard.

Theo couldn't take the anger boiling beneath his skin any longer. He stood with a quick acting force, enough force to knock back the chair he sat in. He screamed, nearly growled, "I was in town shopping with my wife! Is this some kind of joke?! Are you trying to accomplish anything here, Colonel?!"

For awhile nothing was heard but the roaring of the ships engines. Then a slight smirk crept across the Colonel's face as he turned, slowly turning he approached the desk. "Good. You remember why you're here." No emotion could be heard in his voice as he spoke again.

Theo stood in the room still, never regaining his seat. "How could I forget? Is that even possible?"

"You seem to have forgotten lately, Spartan. Your performance shows. It lacks." The Colonel's true intentions were revealed.

"So why bring up that day? When Tribute fell? Why force me to relive that Hell?" Theo was still very upset at being reminded so rudely.

"To remind you why you're here, in the UNSC. You're here for revenge, right?"

"No. I'm here for penance." It was nearly like Captain Veritas had this response rehearsed, because he did not stutter or hesitate when asked.

"For your dead wife?"

"No, for my goddamn car. Yes for my wife!" Theo didn't often mouth off to higher officers, but today was an exception.

"Easy does it, Captain. Have you achieved this 'Penance' that you so desire from your service to the UNSC?"

"Would I still be here if I did?"

The Colonel nodded. "Suppose not. Nevertheless, you'll never serve that penance at this rate. Your men are dying, Veritas. And you don't got a Goddamn clue."

"If I might say, sir…"

The Colonel interrupted again, "You sure as Hell might say, Captain. I'd love to hear it."

Theo reached into his pouch, dug around for a second or two before clutching a small chip no larger than a thumbnail. He threw the microsized data storage unit onto the table before the Colonel. "This is security camera footage from both the night the patroller's died, as well as two nights ago, in the laboratories beneath Fort Grim. You'll find it interesting."

The Colonel gave Theo a dead stare for a moment before retrieving the data from his desk and inserting it into the monitor before him. He brought up the video file and before pressing play, he glanced over at Captain Veritas, who fought back a smug smile. He pressed play.

On the screen was an image of the Fort grim entrance. The camera slowly panned over to the forest beyond the gate. It focused on nothing in particular before panning back to the gate. Before it can make a complete turn, the video pauses and zooms into the corner of the shot. There, in the bottom right near some trees and natural bushes, was a very unclear shot of what appeared to be a man. The man was not entirely visible, only his top torso, including his head, which was encased in a hard skull of ceramic helmet. A late Mjolnir MK-V Model.

The Colonel's jaw nearly dropped as he stared in amazement. He whispered under his breathe, "What the Hell…"

"Crpyt did some editing to highlight that shot, Colonel. And that certainly isn't the main course. Check this one out. From one of our hidden cameras in the labs two nights ago." Colonel Hammel pressed play to unpause the video and it continued to play. The shot of the forest died out, and it cut to a more recent video, taped on a much cheaper camera. The shot displayed Theo combatting this Spartan in the main laboratory. It picks up from the moment the rocks began to fall from the ceiling. The camera shook with the roar of gunshots and displayed the Spartan's escape.

Colonel Hammel watched in amazement, and then in disgust to view the Spartan's escape. He looked at Theo once the video had ended and began repeating. "Who was this? What do you know about this man? Where did he get that armor?" He didn't give Veritas the opportunity to answer.

"No clue, sir. He was found in the labs looking over some of the doctor's recent work…"

"And you failed to stop him." Hammel barked at him.

"To be fair, Colonel he had full Spartan Armor. I was practically naked. But it wasn't a total loss."

"In what manner was this not a loss, Captain? This man has armor and is clearly hostile! If he is allowed to…" Before he was allowed to finish that sentence, Theo threw another object onto the desk. Laying between the two was Zakk's knife. "What is this?"

"His weapon." Theo picked up the blade, nearly examining it for something. "Look here." He kept a finger on it and handed it to Hammel. The Colonel took the blade, examining it. On it was carved the word, 'Plague'.

"Plague," Hammel repeated back to himself. "This was on his knife when he attacked you?"

"Sure was. Any leads?" Theo asked.

"Sadly, no. Not a one. I'll scan the data banks, but I'm not familiar with the term when it comes to hostile forces." Hammel dropped the knife back on the table. "This has been enlightening, Captain, but we have more to discuss."

Theo raised an eyebrow, "Go on."

"If I may," Hammel said, "You're team member, the late Travis Elliot. How was he killed?"

Theo seemed shocked by the question. He had turned in all footage of his partner's death and the UNSC had examined it for authenticity already. "He was stunned by an insurgent flash grenade and then shot up by their gunman."

The colonel nodded. "And you and your squad proceeded to pursue the gunman on foot, correct?"

"Correct."

"He was killed in the end of this pursuit, yes?"

"Yes, sir. After a brief interrogation he was killed by unknown forces." Theo answered.

The Colonel looked him over before continuing his questions, "And what was significant about the way he was killed, Captain?"

Veritas knew what he meant, "Well, sir, he was killed by a covie weapon. One of their sniper variants. A burst came through the southern window, killing the man. The shooter is still unknown."

Hammel stared into Theo's eyes. He did not move a single muscle in his entire body, not even blinking. He lightly tilted his head and spoke once again in his original monotone voice, "No, Captain. You must be mistaken. This man was not killed by a Covenant weapon. He was killed by a standard issue UNSC Sniper round."

Theo looked shocked, "Sir, with all due respect, I witnessed this event. It was a beam sniper…"

"It was not a weapon of alien origin, Commander." Hammel raised his voice.

Theo was once again caught off guard, which didn't happen often. "Are you suggesting that what I witnessed is wrong, sir?"

"Correct. You are misinformed. The man was killed by a Sniper round fired from one of our rifles, commander." He over pronounced the word 'commander' whenever he spoke. "ONI would be very upset if they were to hear anything else but the truth, correct commander?"

Theo did not speak. He stared Hammel in the eyes blankly with no expression until he finally began lightly shaking his head, "Boy, they've got you on a tight leash, eh Hammel?"

The Colonel clenched a fist, becoming angry. "I am simply informing you of the event that took place. Regardless of who wants to hear it, commander."

Theo didn't comment on the event, and rather asked, "Why do you continue to address me as Commander? I thought my title was Captain Commander, which is completely different according to your department."

Hammel said nothing, but instead, reached into his jacket pocket. When his hand emerged again, he held two small brass objects. They were the symbols for the UNSC's rank of Commander. He slid them over the desk and to Theo. "There was no beam rifle."

Theo's jaw hit the ground at the offer. He extended a hand and fondled the ranks in his hand. He stared at them in amazement before tossing them on the ground. "I will NOT accept your blackmail and petty offers for my silence."

Hammel glared at Veritas with disgust in his eyes, "Your friends did."

In anger, Theo slammed his cold fist on the table, "That's bullshit! They would never accept an offer like this!"

The Colonel snarled at the lone Spartan, "Take the ranks, Captain."

"Who put you up to this, Hammel? Was it ONI? What's so damn important about the gun?" Theo swung the interrogation around and was now hammering his senior officer with questions. Before Theo could open his mouth to say anymore, a firm hand gripped his shoulder from behind. He nearly jumped at the sensation and he turned to see who had grabbed him.

There was no visible person in sight. Simply the shimmering of a cloaking device was seen in the darkness and Veritas felt something cold and metallic pressed up to the back of his head. "That scar of yours, Captain," the Colonel spoke, "Would you like another one?!" He slammed Zakk's knife on the table, the blade cut into it and the knife stood straight up. The Colonel's face was now visible under the light. His face was deep, with very depth filled features in his eyes and around his mouth. He had no laugh lines, clearly because of his lack of laughter throughout his career. He had a light tone of grey hair on the very top of his head. No hair was found on the sides or back of his head. It was as if he was balding in a backwards way. The man's eyes darted from Theo to the area behind him back to Theo all while maintaining an evil glare of frustration. War torn features enveloped the man's upper face and forehead.

Theo couldn't resist the man any longer. He whispered, "The man was sniped…" There was obvious pain in his voice, "by a UNSC rifle…"

"Correct, Commander."

"Captain, sir. I'm a Captain." He pulled away from his invisible captor's hand and stormed out of the room without anyone attempting to stop him.

**Chapter 9: Mayday**

"On approach to Fort Grim. ETA in 12 mikes." The pilot and co-pilot of eClipse's Pelican dropship sat in the cockpit controlling the aircraft on their return to base. In the hanger, four Spartans sat in silence, their minds turned off to the world that surrounded them. Everyone had taken notice to one thing, but had yet to mention in: Walker had been promoted. He had gained the rank of Sergeant Major from his previous rank of Master Sergeant. It was obvious that everyone had taken notice, but nobody dared mention where it came from.

All of the men were wearing their helmets this time around, because none of them could dare to look another in the eye after what they had all just been through. Crypt sat with his head held in his hands, looking down as if the floor was occupying his interest. Mouz did the same, whereas Walker sat with his helmet staring straight forward. His eyes were most likely closed on the inside, but it was unnoticeable. Theo sat slumped over, a wall seemed to have occupied his attention.

Out of the silence, Walker coughed lightly. It seemed to be a way of breaking the silence while seeming very subtle about it. Mouz seemed startled by it. Crypt also jumped. Under Mouz's deep sigh, he uttered the words, "Witness protection…"

Theo glared over at him in silence, then removed his own helmet. "What did you say? Witness Protection?"

Mouz looked up, still hunched over, "That's what…"

"Boy, take your helmet off, they record everything you say." Theo corrected him.

"Right," Mouz removed his helmet and picked up where he had left off, "that's what he called them. Did you meet them, Cap'n?"

Theo pondered what Mouz had said for a moment before it struck him. "The body guards?"

"The cloaked guys?" Crypt asked before removing his helmet.

Theo glanced at Crypt, "Helmet." He nodded and removed it before continuing.

"These are simply witness protection," Mouz quoted Hammel. "They are here to ensure the safety of all of us." He sighed, "Yeah, my ass…"

Theo said solemnly, "They had the nerve to grab me. These 'Witness Protection' guys."

"Putting up a fight, eh Captain?" Crypt absolutely loved to joke with Veritas about stuff like this, as serious as it was.

"You know me. Never a dull…"

"MAYDAY! MAYDAY! Brace for impact!" The call came over from the Pelican's cockpit and caused two of the four Spartan's to jump to their feet. They all reattached their helmets and grabbed onto something, as was standard procedure.

The cabin was struck by some sort of projectile, and the lights inside went dark before flashing and glaring red, Walker, who wasn't quick enough on his feet was sent flying into the wall and then being tossed onto the floor. "Lock your armor!" Theo tried to yell over the sound of sirens and creaking metal.

"Pelican Oscar-47 going down! MAYDAY MAYDAY! Brace for impact! Oscar-47 going down! Brace for…!" There was another explosion, this one took the back door to the dropship off, tearing it off of its hinges and spitting it out. Walker grabbed ahold of everything he could to avoid being flung out of the ship. He screamed for help while holding onto a chair support for dear life. The rest of eClipse had locked their armor while already gripping something, so they became nearly one with the bulk of flaming metal that was once their escort home.

The Pelican tore through some tree limbs on its crashing descent downwards. Walker's hand slipped and he found himself dangling on the back end of the shuttle. "Guys! Shit!" His legs dangled out the back of the flaming ship while it made its decsent. He tried to lock his armor, but was being tossed around too much to be allowed the time needed. The armor that held his legs scraped up against tree branches and loosened his grip.

"Dammit, Walker!" Mouz shouted, being the closest person to Walker, he unlocked his armor and dove to the ground attempting to grab Walker's hand. He failed his attempt and ended up tripping over himself in the chaos, reaching down to grab his teammate, he fell to the ground and was just out of reach of Walker's extended hand.

Suddenly there was another explosion, this one had a green mist about it that caused an entire wing of the ship to disappear. It was too much to handle for Walker and he lost his grip, reaching out with another hand to grab onto nothing, he plummeted to the ground roughly 20 yards below. "Goddammit, Walker!" Mouz shouted while clutching the ground, now locking his armor again before impact.

Before the ship made its final impact with the forest floor, Theo managed one last look out of the ship's cabin. Behind the Pelican, 3 or 4 Fuel Rod projectiles trailed the ship travelling too slow to catch up to the ship's flaming body. "Covenant!" he screamed out of pure force of habit. The ship hit the ground, crashing into a ball of fire and machinery. The hull was torn in two by the impact and the cabin and cockpit were torn apart.

The whole event was just a blur now, nobody knew what was happening to their limp, lifeless bodies as they were tossed around as if weighing nothing. The loud ringing sound filled the Spartan's ears, and their bodies lied on the ground encased in their armor.

There were a few more explosions before an eerie silence crept over the forest. A tree that was struck by the dropship's descent cracked, snapping like a twig and fell over to kill the silence. Then, silence regained it's domain.

After moments of fire crackling and tree limbs snapping, Theo's armor unlocked, allowing free movement. He tried to sit up from his current position, but was unsuccessful due to the debris that lay on top of him. He struggled with it, grunting as he pushed all of his force into the debris and after his third try, was successful at becoming free of it's grasp.

He sat up, his vision blurred by what he thought was only his own mind playing tricks on him. After a solemn gulp of air, he opened his eyes a bit wider to reveal that his visor had cracked and smashed in. A large fraction of his gold tinted visor had been lost to the damage received in the blast. It had shattered and fell to the ground when he had done the same.

His right eye was clearly visible through the crack, but his left eye was still hidden behind the tinted glass that remained. He had not suffered any major damage to his body within the suit. Nevertheless, his body ached from the event. This became more apparent as he attempted to stagger to his feet, coughing inside his helmet from the high smoke levels.

After a few moments of trouble, he managed to stand on his own two feet while leaning on what used to a wing. He noticed something shimmering at his feet and he kneeled over to get a better view of it. It was a large piece of his visor that had survived in-tact despite the crash. He picked up the shard and examined over it. The star that lit the sky reflected off the piece of torn debris creating a perfect mirror. He used the mirror to examine himself in the damaged state he was in.

He noticed the severe damage to his helmet, the cracked visor, and his left ventilation unit had failed, and was now hanging off the side. He also observed the tears in his suits Kevlar layer. He ripped the dangling ventilation unit off of his helmet and threw it to the ground. Then he searched the wreckage for his team.

He found Crypt about 12 yards away lying limp on the forest floor. He had a portion of his armor at waist level torn off, but other than that appeared in-tact. Theo approached him and kneeled at his side. He appeared to be conscious yet his armor was still locked. Veritas shook his shoulder a bit. "Buddy," he coughed "You in there?" No response. Theo sat up more and threw away a piece of shrapnel that covered his legs. "Crypt?" Still no response from inside the helmet.

From the pile of metal that was the cockpit, the co-pilot staggered out. He crawled out from underneath a pile of debris, coughing and hacking like an old man caught in a fire. He extended an arm to Theo, "Help… Please…" Theo approached him and took his hand.

"Are you hurt?" He asked the co-pilot.

The marine gulped hard, "Yeah… Yeah, my leg. Ah, my leg…" Theo inspected the man's leg. Sure enough, a large piece of debris must have taken it's toll on the him. He was bleeding out from a decent sized gash on his left leg. Theo pulled him slowly over to another pile of debris. It seemed stable enough so Veritas leaned the man up against it and instructed him to keep pressure on his wound.

Then, he searched for Mouz. He dug underneath piles of fallen seats, floors and walls and still couldn't locate him. "Mouz! Mouz you there?" He started to call out for him, but gained no response in return. He coughed hard, standing up over the damage.

"He… He's dead." The co-pilot uttered as if in disgust.

Theo nearly rushed towards him, "What?!"

"T-the pilot… Oh my god, he's dead."

Theo nearly sighed with relief, but couldn't. It was still one casualty that he would probably be blamed for yet again. He sighed, but with anguish. "Alright. Let's focus on getting out."

The injured man nodded in agreement, "Captain?"

Theo turned back to the co-pilot. He was extending his arm towards Theo. In his hand, he held his sidearm. "S-something shot us down. They might still be out there… Please… Take it."

Theo hadn't realized that they had been shot down. The final moments before the crash had been nearly wiped from his mind until now. He had suddenly remembered the Fuel Rod's that trailed them in their final moments before the descent. He nodded, accepting the firearm and checking the clip. 4 bullets, that's all he had.

"Alright…" Veritas stood, continuing his search for Mouz. Crypt had landed on his back with one hand extended to the air, and since his armor was locked, he remained this way. Suddenly, as Theo walked past him, his arm sank and his armor unlocked. Veritas turned his attention on him. A cackling cough was heard from inside Crypt's helmet.

He lifted his head, turning it left to view the damage and then right to look up at Theo. His neck cracked when he spotted the Captain looming over him. "Am I dead?"

"Sadly, no."

"Damn." Crypt tried sitting up, moaning and clutching his head in his hands. "Dammit all." He took off his helmet revealing his clean cut face.

"You might want to keep that on." Theo flashed him a glance at the pistol. "Pilots got a feeling something's hunting us."

"Yikes." Crypt quickly put his helmet back on and tried standing, with little effort he arose to his feet. "Where's the others?"

Theo didn't answer, but just looked off into the forest where they had flown in from. "If something is out there, they wouldn't let us go so easily."

"Thanks for the optimism, Captain." Crypt replied before searching for a weapon. They had landed in a small clearing in the forest. Trees surrounded them on all angles and there was no scenery other than a few small puddles. The ground beneath them was simply dirt and gravel. Crypt asked again, "Where's Mouz? And Walker?"

"Can't be too far." Theo scanned the area for any signs of life, animal prints, bird sounds, anything, but he found nothing. "No life in this area. Whoever shot us down picked this spot in particular."

"So someone shot us down for sure? It wasn't an engine malfunction or just our dumb luck?"

"Someone, or something." Theo had a harsh tone in his answer. "It was Covenant."

"Are you sure it wasn't one of our rifles?" Crypt mocked.

"I saw four fuel rod bursts trailing us before we hit the ground. Unless we decided to start using some big green shit, I'm pretty positive that I'll stick with my fore mentioned theory."

"Covenants been disbanded for years, though. It's just waves and strays left over. Think they could really piss off the UNSC this much?" Crypt asked doubtingly.

"We managed to piss off the UNSC by simply knowing about this. Call it a hunch." Theo aimed the pistol into the trees to the far left of the crash site. Nothing moved or rustled in the foliage.

"Found Mouz!" Crypt called out from a fair distance away. Theo ran over to him to find Mouz's open palmed hand sticking out from underneath a fallen wing.

"Help me get this off of 'em." Veritas holstered his weapon and began attempting to lift the wing. Crypt nodded and did the same. Their combined effort was enough to lift it off of Mouz's body. "Mouz, roll out from under there!" Theo grunted from the weight of the debris. There was no answer of movement in reply from Mouz.

"Mouz? You in there?" Still no response. "Captain? Can you hold this up on your own for a split second?" Theo simply nodded.

"I'll give it my best for a moment."

"Alright," Crypt said squatting down, "I'll get him out from under there, just drop it when I've got him out."

Veritas gave him the instructions, "On my mark, 3, 2, 1, mark!" Crypt dove under the wing and quickly began working on rolling out Mouz. Theo grunted and moaned audibly, pushing all his weight against the debris. His feet began sliding out from his stance, the dirt beneath his boots were being pushed aside by the pressure. "Not much time left! Hurry up down there!"

"Trying!" Crypt worked on dragging Mouz's body out from under debris. Suddenly, a chunk of the wing broke off and fell to the ground, taking a bit of the weight off of Theo. An engine lay next the wing they were operating under. The engine caught a few sparks and slowly burned into a white heat.

Crypt had him nearly all the way out when Veritas lost grip. His feet flailed out from under him and he fell backwards onto his back, grunting. Crypt dove out of the way, and Mouz lied on his side facing out. Crypt pulled on one of his arms until he was completely out and on his back.

Theo re-equipped his pistol and walked over to Mouz. "Is… Is he?"

"Let's find out." Crypt had a dead tone to his voice when he spoke. He removed Mouz's helmet slowly to not disturb him. The engine behind them caught up in flames and Theo, shocked, jumped to his feet, spun around and aimed his weapon at the fiery ball of metal. Beside the erupting engine was a small pool of water. There was a sudden ripple that Theo took notice to.

"He's alive, but unconscious. Might be out for a few hours. He'll probably need…"

"Crypt," Theo spoke in an almost whispered voice. "Crypt, don't move."

Crypt replied in the same hushed tone, "Why? What is it?"

Captain Veritas caught glimpse of some sparks that flew off the destroyed engine. They fluttered through the air until coming to rest in mid-air. They seemed to have landed on the air itself before fading off. He aimed the pistol at the air around the sparks and held it there with both hands. "Sir, what's over there?"

The same event repeated with sparks coming to a halt in mid-air then disappearing into the daylight. Theo grumbled to Crypt, "Witness Protection."

"They followed us?"

Theo didn't answer. He didn't move a muscle while aiming the magnum in the air. He remembered he only had four bullets in the chamber and realized that it would be useless against armored thugs. Theo's eyes shifted back and forth in his helmet checking his surroundings and tactical advantages.

Suddenly, a few yards away the co-pilot screamed bloody murder. He was thrown violently into the air by an invisible force. He came crashing down, his abdomen was sliced through like butter by the blade of a Covenant energy sword that appeared suspended in the air. The screaming stopped, but the co-pilot lay dead on impact with the ground a few feet below.

"Split-Jaws!" Veritas yelled while jumping back, gesturing at Crypt to move. Crypt dove to his feet and stood behind Theo, back to back. Crypt drew his knife and stood glaring off behind Captain Veritas. Behind him, Theo held the gun at eye level and aimed at (what he assumed was) the Elite's head.

"Captain?" Crypt said shocked, "I think there's more than just two of them." A couple of the water puddles shimmered with light and footsteps of invisible creatures.

Theo didn't answer him again, knowing that there was obviously more than what they saw. Out of the silence, Mouz's breathless body began floating into the air, held by an invisible grip. "Mouz!" Crypt dove on the Elite that rose Mouz, grabbing him and lunging towards his presumed head with his blade. His knife struck flesh and the alien dropped the Spartan, but too late. Another gripping pair of invisible hands grabbed Crypt from behind, pulling him away from the alien.

Theo quickly turned, drew his knife, and lunged at the one holding Crypt. Before he could make a full swing, he was tossed back, falling onto the ground and quickly recovering. The one restraining Crypt lost his Active Camo module and was now fully visible in the daylight.

The Shanghelli ranger stood looming over the Spartan. He threw Crypt to the ground and drew his sword. The beast was at least eight feet tall and was colored a deep black with shimmering dark blue streaks. He looked damaged, like his armor wasn't in perfect condition but was still usable. He held the glimmering sword to Crypt's neck and let out a maniacal fit of laughter showing that he had won and was about to claim his prize.

He celebrated too soon. A shot rang out, a loud UNSC sniper round pierced the skull of the Elite ranger. His shields popped, and he fell to the ground dead. Crypt quickly grabbed his sword and jumped to his feet. Theo rushed to him, "You hurt?"

"No, no I'm good. Who the hell shot?" The question rang through their heads and they both turned to find the mysterious shooter. They found nobody. The barren field they had landed in now contained the combined glow of over twenty covenant energy swords. Not only were they outnumbered, but surrounded. Another three shots were fired from the sniper, dropping three Elites and killing two.

Most of the Elite's turned to see who was successfully dropping their numbers, but saw no one. Four or five of them broke off and headed in the direction of the bullets origins. Theo used this time of confusion to jump on the nearest soldier's back and snap his neck. Crypt caught on and quickly stabbed through the nearest Elite's chest with their own sword, killing him.

About half of the original Elites remained and they all circled around the two Spartans like hunters around prey. Some gunfire was heard from behind them, but whatever it was, it wasn't viewable from their current location.

A voice screamed, "Veritas!" and Theo turned to see a UNSC Shotgun flying over the heads of the Covenant forces. He propelled himself off the ground a caught it, cocking it back and immediately firing it into the crowd of aliens. He knocked two of the closer ones back, one fell to the ground. A few of the farther Elites rushed forward at a sprint to strike down their opposing forces.

A few more sniper shots were fired, killing two more Elites that were posing threats. Crypt wrestled with another, slashing their swords together. Theo shot out another round into an alien's chest, knocking him dead. Four elites remained standing. Two of them cowered behind the other two. They stood with their swords drawn, facing Theo and Crypt head on.

Out from behind the foliage, something emerged. Something much larger than the Elites that posed much more of a threat. A Spartan. This Spartan pushed the bushes aside, slowly walking up behind the elites. He had no need for stealth, because he was a walking tank. Bulky grenadier armor with variants that just made him larger. The outer shell that encased the man inside was painted a deep white with small blue streaks throughout it. This Spartan stood so tall that he loomed over the aliens, enticing fear if they were to turn and see him approach. Instead, he walked up from behind them, unarmed, slowly cracking his knuckles.

The sight of the unfamiliar warrior caused Theo to halt his fire. The white giant reached the two elites behind. With one quick gesture he picked them both off the ground, one in each hand. The Elites struggled to be released but with another quick move, they were thrown into each other, their skulls crashing as they hit the ground. One of the aliens who stood in front turned only to meet the blade of a huge modified knife cutting through his neck. He dropped

Theo and Crypt alike watched in amazement as the white giant tore through the last Elite with ease. When the brute of a Spartan was finished, he simply wiped his knife off on his armor, the blood spilling over, and sheathed it. The three Spartans stood around staring at each other under their visors.

"S-spartan?" Theo acknowledged the brute before him, "S-488, Theo Veritas. Who are you?" There remained silence, and the man didn't speak. He towered at least an entire foot over Theo and the rest of eClipse. He wore the bulkiest armor with a large canister on the front. The canister looked to be incorporated into the man's armor.

The white giant approached Veritas slowly, yet threateningly, as he did the Elites. Theo rose his shotgun in defense. "Please, I don't want to hurt you. Just tell me who you are!" Still no answer. Theo pumped the shotgun back only to hear a subtle click of an empty gun. "Dammit."

The mystery Spartan reached Theo, towering over him now and looking down on him through the visor of his Operator class helmet. He violently grabbed and ripped the empty shotgun from his hands, forcing him back a bit. He dropped the gun on the ground with the inscription up. Carved into the face of the gun was, '_White Plague'._

**Chapter 10: Leviticus**

Theo spotted the inscription carved into the shotgun and stood feeling hopeless inside his armor. He took in a deep gulp of air and drew his knife. "Identify!" he screamed at the monster in front of him.

Silence overtook the plateau, the only sounds audible were the crackling of the fire and cracking of debris. He called out again, "I said Identify!" No response. "What is your affiliation with the White Plague?!" In response, the monstrous bulk tilted his head to the left, cracking his neck then straightening it. Theo nervously gripped the knife, "Where did you get that equipment?" The silence became almost eerie.

"Ever think I might want it back?" a sarcastic unidentified voice called out from behind the white bulk of armor. "Easy Goliath, don't give the old man a heart attack." The bulk stepped aside, allowing an easy viewing path in between the speaker and Captain Veritas. That sarcastic voice was Zakk.

Theo clenched his fist holding the knife. "What are you doing here, runt?"

"Not getting shot down, that's for sure."

Theo stepped forward as Zakk approached him. Goliath stepped in front of him, not allowing him to pass. "Why are you here, what are you doing, and what the hell is this blocking my path?"

Zakk replied, "Easy, old timer. Goliath is very insecure about his appearance!" The brute cracked his knuckles then stepped out of Veritas's way. Theo clenched the knife.

"Why are you here?" Veritas barked.

Zakk sighed with his hands placed on his hips. Looking down he said, "I do believe we got off on the wrong foot. I should start by apologizing for trying to steal your stuff and blah blah blah." He walked around, pacing the dirt ground and over exaggerating his words with terrible hand gestures. "Look, instead of asking me what I'm doing here, ask yourself what you're doing here."

Theo spoke like he didn't understand the question. "I'm not playing games, runt! I've got a lot of questions for you." Crypt watched in astonishment as the two bickered.

He tried to butt in, "Guys?"

He was shut out by Zakk, "Captain Veritas, what are you doing here?"

"How the hell do you know my name? And why did you throw me the gun?

"Guys?" Crypt tried again.

"How about a, 'Thanks Zakk for saving my old hairy ass back there!' Ever heard of a little appreciation?"

"Why the hell is this an issue?"

"GUYS!"

They both turned to Crypt angrily. "What!?" they both screamed. Crypt snapped out of his astonishment to approach the Captain and Zakk, standing in between both across from Goliath.

"We were just attacked by the Covenant, which has been disbanded for years now, and you two are fighting over appreciation?" Crypt also used a lot of hand gestures when he spoke, much like Zakk.

Zakk shrugged, "You mean Kaz?"

"Kaz?" Theo asked while glaring through his visor at him.

"You heard me right. Kazdominion Parasomi. But you've never heard of them, have you Cap'n?"

Theo had a look in his eyes underneath his visor like he had just been punched in the face. "Boy, are you speaking English?"

Zakk folded his arms, "Indeed I'm not. Kazdominion Parasomi is Sanghelli."

Theo became irritated, "Boy, I don't care if it's the language of the trees, what the hell does it mean?"

"It means that you and I, we're fucked." Zakk tilted his head, leaning forward when he spoke. There was some chatter over Zakk's comms. He turned a blind eye on Veritas, "'scuse me."

Theo looked at Crypt. "You believe a word out of this guy's mouth? Who the hell is he anyway?" Crypt said with concern.

"This is the lovely gentlemen who tried to kill me the other night." Zakk had one hand to his head, his fingers pressed on the comms.

"Pleasure." He said while approaching Crypt, extending an arm for a handshake whilst not looking him in the eyes. Crypt just stood with his arms crossed, sighing.

"Asshole." Crypt said under his breath.

"Likewise, buddy." Zakk slapped him on the shoulder as if they had been lifelong friends and Crypt tensed up at his touch.

Zakk lowered his fingers from his helmet, turned towards the confused and concerned Captain Veritas, and said with confidence, "Alright, so…" He clapped his hands together, "Veritas and friend, this is Goliath, I'm Zakk, and Karma is…" he turned and searched the landscape, "not here at the moment."

"Why the hell are you telling us this?" Theo asked.

Zakk suddenly became serious, under his visor his eyes straightened up and he gulped hard. "Because, Captain Veritas, and trust me I'm ashamed of myself for saying this, but we need something."

Crypt talked out of turn, "Why don't you just steal it like you normally do?"

Zakk separated his hands when he replied, "Kinda hard to steal a Spartan deployment." Goliath remained by his side motionless.

Theo and Crypt stood side by side in silence, until Theo broke it. "You're out of your tiny mind, boy. Now let me see if I've got this correct," He slowly approached Zakk and Goliath, "You kill our trainees, you attempt to steal our data or whatever, you attempt to kill me…"

"But I didn't. Because as much as it pains me to say it, Theo, we need you. We need you and your little band of misfits because there's a storm coming, and it's coming fast." There was pain in Zakk's voice. Behind all of his sarcasm and games he hated being this serious.

"You're out of your mind. I could turn you into the UNSC right now and get you in a lot of trouble, here." Theo barked.

"But you won't."

"Who's gonna stop me?" Theo asked. Goliath cracked his knuckles, but Zakk called him off.

Zakk replied, "Nobody, Theo. Nobody but yourself. You won't turn me in, and we all know that."

Crypt asked, "And why wouldn't he?"

"Because he'd never learn who we are."

Captain Veritas looked down at the ground, emotionless, while Crypt replied, "Who cares what or who you are, we…"

"Crypt…" Theo spoke in a soft voice, "He's right…"

Crypt stood in shock, "Sir, Sir you can't be serious!"

"Think about it, Lieutenant. These men aren't exactly in training armor, now are they? These two are Spartans, issued undoubtedly by the UNSC. They seem to actually be making sense, and I hate to say it, but at the moment I have a lot more respect for this ass-hat," he pointed to Zakk, "than I do for those manipulative sons-of-bitches in command at Infinity. So, being the fore mentioned ass-hat, you have a minute to explain yourself."

Zakk nodded, "I think you better meet Karma before asking too much."

Theo stood motionless with his arms crossed, "And where might he be?"

"She", Zakk corrected, "is with one of your guys about half a mile that way."

"Walker?" Crypt asked.

"Sure, if that's what makes sense." Zakk shrugged, "She said she was with one of the eClipse guys, that he was unconscious when she found him, but he was coming to. Said he was pretty damaged."

Theo began walking in the direction he pointed, "Better get going then, I'll extend that minute so long as you can return my wasted time."

Zakk followed behind him, "Not sure about that one, but stay close. Might be more Kaz in this sector."

"Yeah, I might want that back." Theo referred to the shotgun Zakk had loaned him earlier. Goliath and Crypt trailed a few yards behind them. "Ah shit. My mind's acting up. Crypt, go back with Mouz and make sure he doesn't die." Crypt nodded and returned to the crash site while the other three kept walking.

"You've seen better days." Zakk tried to speak to Veritas lowly.

"I've seen worse." Theo replied.

"How you gonna fix your armor? Your visor's definitely not doing too well."

"Are any of us really doing too well?" Theo asked sternly.

Zakk remained silent for a moment before asking, "You mean what you said? About respecting me more than the UNSC?"

"Of course I didn't." Theo mocked, "Frankly I'm only helping you because you seem to know a little more about my problem than them. But to be fair, you both tried to kill me."

Zakk turned over his shoulder looking at Theo. "The UNSC tried to kill you too, huh? Didn't think it'd come so early on. Must've pissed 'em off real…"

"What? What do you mean, 'Kill you too'? Who else did they try to kill?" Theo interrupted.

"Who do you think? We're not exactly spotless soldiers of the UNSC over here, Goliath and I."

"Well what the hell are you, because regardless how much of my help you need, you're still only getting a minute to convince me why." Theo replied.

"That's all we'll need." Zakk said as they approached a small clearing in the trees. More debris from the crash scattered the ground around them, and in a small clearing laid Walker, helmet removed. Next to him kneeled a baby blue armored Spartan with a woman's figure. She wore a complete set of Recon armor that had been modified slightly to fit her. She had her back to Theo and Zakk when they approached.

"Honey, I'm home." Zakk called out mockingly.

"Can it, Zakk." She turned to face them. "Captain Veritas, I presume?"

"You're Karma?" Theo asked.

"Last time I checked." She stood and crossed her arms. "Got your guy all patched up here. Humpty Dumpty took quite the fall." She was nearly an entire foot shorter than Theo. Veritas thought to himself that she must've been the shortest a Spartan could be.

"Cap'n?" A weak voice from below them called up. Walker was lying down with his helmet off, clutching his right side. Pieces of his armor laid in a pile beside his helmet. "Didn't lock up in time." He gulped deeply. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, Walker listen to me. You're going to be alright. We're gonna get you back home, fix your armor, and we'll be fine." Theo kneeled next to him.

"No, Captain… It's worse than that." He removed his hand from his side and groaned. He was bleeding heavily from his side.

"Hey, keep pressure on that!" Karma yelled.

Theo held his own head in his hands, sighing deeply. "Dammit all…" He looked back at Zakk, "We have no contact with our command or base. Wouldn't suppose you have any contact?"

Karma replied to him, "You know, that wound wasn't from the fall." Theo turned his attention to Karma. She continued, "Covenant Energy Sword slashed clean through his abdomen."

"We encountered some Kaz on our way here, Karma. Veritas has already met them." Zakk said.

"Well, your friend here wasn't so lucky. He should be fine, as long as he wears his seat belt." Karma said, keeping her arms crossed.

"You have a minute, Karma." Theo stood, towering over her. "One minute to convince me why I should help you, Zakk, and the jolly green giant over here. One minute that will change my opinion on you and them, because right now It's not looking so good!"

"Yeah, soldier boy? You keep your minute, I got one word that will change you!" Karma bitched at him like nobody else ever had.

"I'd love to see that, ma'am!" Theo replied.

"So sure your opinion can't be turned?" Karma asked.

"It's starting to look that way. Where's your miracle word?" Theo crossed his arms in disbelief that such a word could exist.

"Roev Reldevek," She said.

**Chapter 11: The Fall of Tribute**

_ October 23__rd__, 2548._

_ Location: Tribute Capitol City, Casbah._

_ Eleven years prior to the current events._

"Come on, Theo! Catch up!" She reached for his hand, clutching it and running along with Theo.

"Alright, alright, slow down, sweetie! I'm not what I used to be!" Amber Veritas slowed her pace to a slow walk, standing next to her smiling husband. "Baby, we have the whole day, today is all about us."

She giggled, "Thanks for taking the day off of work just to run around town with little ol' me." She embraced him. They stood on the Casbah Promenade, amongst the shops and large, bustling city center. Cars rushed by and people walked the streets around them.

"Are you kidding? It's been ten years today since we were married. Feels like yesterday still, and why wouldn't I take the day off? Mr. Gretch can't keep me locked up forever. Besides, Arthur's pretty good at being my TA." He tenderly kissed his wife on the forehead and they continued to walk hand in hand.

"How are things at the University?" Amber asked.

"Not too bad, give or take a few." Theo shrugged.

Amber smiled, "If you say so, professor." She jokingly bumped into Theo's chest. The couple walked along the promenade together. Theo wore a nice informal jacket with a matching fedora. Under his thin coat was a plain white undershirt and dark gray jeans. His wife wore a long, flowing orange dress with yellow and red trim. The colors matched her long, silky red hair that hung down past her shoulder. Even in her 30's she still had a childish tone to her voice.

Theo himself appeared as a younger, easy going man. He lacked the facial scar over his left eye, and his skin tone was significantly lighter. His head was not shaved, and his dark brown hair remained short and clean cut under his fedora. He had a rather pointed chin that was clear of any facial hair. He was a professor of social sciences and history at UVT, (University of Casbah, Tribute).

They walked the streets, happily peeking into small shops that lined the sidewalk. "Theo, hun, what time are the dinner reservations?"

Mr. Veritas checked his watch, "We've got…" He looked up and smiled, "2:36. Still got an hour."

She smiled in return, "M'kay!" and happily walked along holding her husband's hand. She had an amazing figure with dainty features. Small arms and legs extended from her petite torso. All and all, she was only about 5'7 or 5'8. Suddenly, she cupped her hands over her mouth and gasped, "Oh my gosh, Theo!"

"Hmm? What is it?" He stopped in his tracks, turning his body towards her.

"It's beautiful!" She approached a window to a jewelry boutique. In the window, she pointed to a shimmering diamond and sapphire necklace that glowed in reflection to the sunlight of mid-day. She looked to Theo smiling. "I think I found what I want for our anniversary." She said to him while half dragging him into the store.

Theo chuckled, "We'll see." They approached the counter, an old balding man was working there behind the glass. He had dry white hair on the sides of his head where he wasn't bald.

"Good evening. Can I help you?" He asked when Mr. and Mrs. Veritas reached him.

"Yeah hi, umm, I have a question about that necklace in the window." Amber asked the employee. Theo allowed his wife to handle the situation with the cashier. He turned and gazed out the shop windows at some men and women who stood outside. These people were standing in front of a restaurant holding signs up to the passing pedestrians.

These signs read text such as, "The End is Near!" "The Covenant Will be Fulfilled" and "Earth is Not Safe, Tribute is Not Safe, Humanity is Not Safe." Theo watched them, not understanding their intention. He just closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Theo?" Amber broke him from his trance, holding onto his shoulder and gazing into the same direction. "Don't mind them, honey. They've given up. We haven't." She quickly kissed him on the cheek and grabbed his hand playfully. "Don't mind them, Gregory is going to teach the Covenant what the Veritas family is made of!" She cheerfully patted Theo on the shoulder, lightening his mood.

Colonel Gregory Veritas of the United Nation's Space Command was the Fleet Commander for the 31st Regiment of Earth. He was also Theo's twin brother who joined the UNSC straight out of High School, whereas Theo went off to college. They had a little brother named Riah who was roughly ten years younger than them, but at the age of 16, Riah ran away from home and was never heard from directly again. Riah looked up to Gregory as a role model as a kid, and when Greg went off to war, it crushed little Riah.

Amber took Theo's hand while they waited for the employee to return with the necklace. When he finally did, she took it and held it in front of her neck smiling. "How does it look?" She asked Theo, stepping away from him a little to allow him to get a good look.

"Hey! Looks great on you!" He stood back and smiled at his wife. She returned the smile, spun around and looked at herself in the mirror.

"It's gorgeous!" She gently placed it around her neck, fixing her hair with her hands, then placing them on her hips, turning in all sorts of angles to get a better view of herself. The elderly shop clerk stood back with Theo, crossing his arms and maintaining a smile.

"It's not exactly cheap, but I'm sure we can negotiate if it's out of your price range." The clerk said. Theo's competitive nature set it.

"Oh yeah? How much?" He demanded.

The clerk looked towards his from the side and said, "2,100 credits." Tribute used the universal credit system for their currency. Amber turned and skipped over to Theo, wearing the necklace and smiling like an angel. She said nothing, but buried her head in his chest lovingly.

Out of the purest of moments, there was a low rumbling. A quick shaking of the ground, much like a small earthquake occurred directly under them. The walls shook, the lights flickered, but the force of the shaking was not enough to throw anything from its shelf or shatter any glass.

"Everyone alright?" Theo asked.

"What was that?" Amber asked in her childlike voice, her face still buried in his chest.

"Felt like… Felt like a jump, like a slipspace jump." Theo said, walking out the front doors of the shop, gazing into the sky. It was empty, shining like normal, not a cloud in sight. His wife joined by his side, as the people in the streets gazed up as well. There was another tremor, a more drawn out and defined quake that shook the ground, and the sky became shimmering, distorted with energy. Theo took notice to the distortion. "Amber… Amber get down!"

He pushed his wife to the ground behind a planter as gently as he could and dove in front of her, staring into the sky. The people in the streets all hid in buildings and removed themselves from the streets. There was a baby crying that could be heard above all things. The rumbling continued to grow, the ground shaking and windows began shattering. Theo heard what sounded like the cracking of thunder high over the city. He squinted his eyes, staring into the sky as he saw his own hope die before him. The sound of the sound barrier ripping apart filled the sky and the city became dark, the sun died behind the massive ship that huddled over Casbah.

Directly above their heads, a Covenant Corvette class cruiser hung. Several more cracks were heard, summoning more cruisers. There were about twelve in total hovering above Casbah alone. The civilians panicked, screaming and hugging their loved ones. Theo hugged Amber, who was still yet to see the ships. Theo could still hear the crying baby.

People ran through the streets like ants screaming for their lost or fallen loved ones. One of the distant cruisers began glowing with energy before shooting down a massive beam of plasma that glowed brighter than the sun, the sky glowed a bright orange as people ran into buildings screaming.

"Mister! Mister!" Theo lifted his head weakly to see the jewelry store clerk wielding an illegal shotgun in the door of his boutique. "We're not letting these splitjawed freaks take our planet! Get in! Hurry, hurry!" He gestured into his store. Theo rose to his feet, taking Amber up with him.

"C'mon hun, c'mon…" he took her hand and stood crouched. For the first time, Amber saw the Covenant fleet.

She nearly wept on the spot, whispering to herself, "Oh god, Oh my god, Oh my god…" as they ran to the storefront.

"Get in, get in!" the clerk rushed them in as dropships began their descent to the surface. The Veritases had almost reached the doors when a Covenant drop pod cracked through the air and smashed into the street behind them. Amber lost her step and stumbled into the door. The clerk took her and dragged her in to safety. Behind them, three Covenant Elites and two Grunts unloaded themselves from the pod. Quickly overhead, two UNSC piloted Shortswords flew over, dropping bombs on the streets below to flush out the Covenant.

Theo stopped just inside the shop to witness one of these bombs hit the ground directly in front of the drop pod, shattering the Covenant forces as well as the remaining windows of the jewelry store. Theo was thrown back by the blast, hitting his back on the counter hard as a glass showcase shattered. A giant shard of the glass cut into Theo's head above his left eye, leaving him groaning on the floor grabbing his forehead. He saw his watch on his wrist, it read 2:43. In under ten minutes, the entire city of Casbah was flung into the war.

Theo's entire left cheek was smeared in blood when the two Spirit dropships arrived on the street, four or five stores down. Amber remained huddled in a corner, crying in disbelief. The store clerk wielded his shotgun, crouching behind the shattered windows. A magnum was clipped to his side pouch most likely to defend him in case of robbery or thieves. The radio inside the shop fuzzed in and out of existence, broadcasting the location of an evac point by the UNSC.

"Mayday, Mayday, Citizens of Casbah, Tribute, please listen carefully. The UNSC is holding an evacuation site for civilian persons at the Sinoviet distribution center at 4930 Balkris Avenue. Mayday, Mayday. Winter Contingency is in play." The message repeated over and over like lost echoes.

"Balkris… We… We got to get to that evac point…" Theo groaned from the corner, his hand still covering his head.

"Too bad. That's right through the entire goddamn fleet!" The clerk took notice to Theo's bleeding head. "Here." He ripped a piece of cloth from his already tattered shirt and threw it at Mr. Veritas's feet. "Wrap your head up in that. Shit! Here they come!" He ducked back behind the windowsill, clutching his shotgun tight.

An Elite Officer followed by three Spec Ops and a Ranger terrorized the streets, The Ranger held two Energy swords in his hands, whilst the spec ops held Plasma Rifles. The Officer had a Concussion Rifle tucked behind him. The Officer was draped in orange armor, barking orders in his native tongue. The Spec Ops soldiers wore black, stealth focused armor. The Ranger wore a golden tint with a blue shimmering visor as he tore through Civilians with his swords, roaring in his language.

The squad of Sanghelli arrived at the storefront. Two of the spec ops scouted ahead, passing the shop up without sparing a passing glance. The officer, ranger, and remaining spec ops Elite stood in front of the store. The tension in the room grew beyond belief as the golden ranger glanced into the room, spying Amber trembling on the ground.

He laughed, drawing both his swords and slowly walking inside the crumbling store. Theo opened his pained right eye to see the approaching Sanghelli warrior. "Kill that sonuva bitch!" He shouted, raising a finger and pointing him out. This drew the attention of the ranger as well as the other two who followed. The Spec ops Elite stood still while the Officer trailed behind the ranger towards the store.

As the warriors arrived at the doorway, the store clerk jumped to his feet. "Glass this, splitjaws!" He screamed, firing his weapon into the chest of the Officer. The Elite's shields cracked, falling down to the ground. The Ranger stood behind the fallen officer. "Sir!" the clerk called to Theo, "Sir, take this! Defend yourself!" The clerk threw his pistol to him. Theo couldn't shoot, but he took the pistol regardless.

From behind the store clerk, an energy sword lit, suspended in air. It was held by an invisible hand and without time for warning, the cloaked spec ops Elite stabbed the old man through the chest, lifting him off the ground. Theo and the clerk both gasped, and with his final breathe, the clerk pulled the trigger of his shotgun blasting through the spec op's skull, killing him instantly.

The clerk then collapsed to the ground with the body of the Elite warrior. "Theo! Theo help me!" Mr. Veritas heard his wife's call for help and turned immediately, giving himself a head rush. In the hands of the golden ranger, his wife Amber squirmed for freedom. The viscous warrior laughed at her feeble attempts of escape.

Theo broke into panic, "Amber! Amber, no!" He couldn't move. The ranger lit his sword and Amber screamed, her long red hair draped over the creature's claws. He let out a raspy, disgusting laugh.

"Theo! Please!" She broke her arm free of the Elite's grasp and reached for her husband. Theo reached from the ground to grab his wife's arm. The creature that withheld her let go of her body, only to grab her by her hand and swing her around violently. She screamed when she wasn't allowed back to her husband. Theo hardly touched hands with his wife before she was spun back around into the blade of molten energy. It stabbed directly through her abdomen and she let out one last moan.

"Amber! Amber, no! Please! Amber, no!" A tear rolled down Theo's right cheek while blood rolled down the left. The brutal creature kicked Amber off of his blade with his giant hoof. Theo's wife's body landed in front of him, "Amber... Please… No…" Two energy blades lit up in front of his tear filled eyes. Theo looked the creature in his visor and demanded. "Kill me! Come on, you sick fuck! Kill me!" The Elite stood with both swords drawn, but unlit them. "Kill me, you wimp!" The Elite approached Theo, grabbing him in one arm and lifting him to eye level, hardly choking him.

The warrior spoke in almost broken English, "You… You will suffer…" He then threw Veritas's near lifeless corpse to the ground towards the door, crashing down with a loud thud. Gunfire was heard outside now, and Theo could no longer hear the cries of the infant. The ranger Elite cornered Theo's head against a wall using his hoofed foot and spoke again. "The others will die… But you will suffer…"

He released his foot from Theo's head, storming out of the building in a roaring cry. Theo laid in pain and disbelief, still crying his wife's name. He crawled slowly with all his strength back to her corpse. She hadn't yet died. He held her while she bled out, they locked eyes, both crying. Amber used her remaining strength to form a weary smile. "T-theo? Do… do you think I'll go to Heaven?"

"Yes, yes Amber you will…" Theo broke into tears.

"S-sweet…heart?"

"Y-yes?"

"W-will you be there?"

**Chapter 12: The Oncoming Storm**

_ Location: Aureola, Installation 05_

_ Eleven Years Later_

"Roev Reldevek." Karma repeated. Theo stood emotionlessly in utter silence. Karma stared back through her visor with just as much emotion.

"What the hell is a Rove Redleck or whatever the hell she said?" Walker asked, half paying attention.

"Roev Reldevek, Walker." Theo returned.

"What is it?" he asked again.

"The reason I'm here." Theo replied solemnly. He looked towards Karma, asking "And what of Reldevek? How does he tie into this?"

"He's bringing about the oncoming storm. Kazdominion Parasomi is his organization." Silence filled the air again.

"Well… We'll kick his ass then, eh Theo?" Walker asked, coughing into his hand.

"No, Walker. We won't." Captain Veritas answered.

"So, you're refusing to help us?" Zakk asked, taking a step towards him.

"I didn't say that. I simply said we won't kick his ass. The others will die, but he… he will suffer." Theo's cracked visor shimmered and reflected the light of the day.

Karma crossed her arms again, "So are you in or out, because we don't got all day?"

"You've got all day, and so do I." Theo said. "Young lady, you and your friends still have a lot to explain." He crossed his arms. "And I've got all day."

Karma sighed, looking down at her feet. "Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Let's start with the question everyone's wondering. Who the hell are you people?"

Zakk stepped up, "Uh, that's what I hoped you wouldn't ask." He waited for Veritas to say something, but when he didn't he continued. "We're the White Plague. We're an ex-Spartan Deployment."

"EX-Spartan Deployment? And what earned you that title?" Walker asked from the ground, applying bio-foam to his wound.

"We knew too much. ONI didn't like that." Zakk shrugged. "It's what they do, you know. Kill the ones who know too much.

"Know too much about what?" Theo asked puzzled.

"Anything ONI doesn't want you to. In our case, it was Kazdominion and Roev. ONI doesn't believe that they exist, they think it's something much smaller than it really is. They want to turn a blind eye to it. We didn't allow that. Ever heard of Captain Commander Dallas Ryder?"

"Vaguely, it was a big talk within the ranks that Captain Ryder was court-marshalled by ONI because he refused to report something he found on the Ark years ago." Theo replied.

"Well that's horse shit. Dally was real close to us, he was our commander." Zakk scanned over everyone. "We watched him get gunned down by Kaz, and ONI tried to cover that up. All bullshit. Dally was never even on the Ark!"

"So how does this fit into your story?"

"Well, here's the thing, Ryder was really close to cracking some secret Covenant code. It was code used towards the beginning of the war that nobody had seen since Harmony. The decoder was lost and he was sure that it was almost cracked. Now how would Kaz have any idea what he's doing with their code?" He waited for Theo to answer, when he didn't, Walker used his strength to raise his hand sarcastically. "Yes, Dirty Sanchez?"

"ONI told them?" he asked with little effort.

Zakk shrugged. "No idea. We're not sure how they found out, but it was obvious that they wanted the code. Smashed it before escaping. And you'll never believe what ONI said when we told them about this."

"They told you how Ryder 'really' died." Theo said, half asking.

"They told us how Ryder really died, exactly. Now Dally was a good friend of all of us, and we didn't take too lightly to this. Guess what three Spartans were court-marshalled?" Zakk sighed deeply as he spoke.

"You… You three are illegal?" Walker asked from the ground.

Karma responded to him inaudibly.

"You three, even after you were told to go home and be safe, you stayed… You fought anyways… Why?" Theo asked, even more astonishment in his voice.

"That's where you're wrong, about being safe. Kaz knew who we all were, and if they could find out about Ryder cracking their code, they could find where we were going. We didn't stay for revenge, or out of rebellion. We stayed for survival." Zakk became sincere again.

Theo crossed his arms silently, shutting his eyes and holding his head low. He said, "You know, I can respect that. Survival and all. I won't ask how I can trust you, because frankly I don't. But I won't let that overcome me. I trust you three more in a minute, than I did with ONI in ten years."

Karma turned back to them. "So you're in?"

"No. You're in, with us." Theo answered. "You three will come back to Fort Grim with us, and we'll house you there and continue to work towards Kazdominion and Roev."

Zakk stepped back up and spoke. "Uh, that's a big negative, Captain. We can't show our faces around that place without people getting suspicious."

"Why? Nobody around there has ever seen you. You've done a good enough job sneaking in and out."

"As true as that is," Karma took the compliment she gave to herself, "we'd prefer to work from our own base of operations."

Theo asked puzzled, "And where is that?"

Karma answered, "Look around you, Captain. Where are we?"

When Theo didn't answer, Walker spoke up, "In the middle of a goddamn forest to nowhere."

"Hey, Sherlock. That fall mess with your head? Think on a bigger scale." Karma replied.

"Aureola. Halo." Theo solemnly spoke to himself. His visible eye through his shattered visor closed.

"Bingo," Zakk said, "And those Forerunners sure had a hard-on for underground chambers."

"We found one that suited us, packed away there." Karma finished for him.

"Well here's the thing." Veritas barked. "You three made the mistake of telling me everything. If you don't follow on this tight leash I'm giving, then I could care less what happens to you all."

Goliath took a monstrous step forward. Karma argued in return, "Yeah, well what about you? All the stuff you've been up to it's not long until you're on your way out as well!"

Zakk extended an arm to Karma's shoulder, trying to calm her. She responded by swatting him away and turning a shoulder to him. Zakk argued in his own defense, "Karma, it's alright. If we have to stay on this hypothetical leash, then so be it. Besides, that old base of ours is really getting out of hand. These people are willing to open their home to us against the orders of their government."

"They'll get us all killed! Them and us!" Karma protested.

"Let me remind you what we stand for, Karma…" Zakk turned to Theo, "Excuse us for a moment." Zakk took Karma roughly by the shoulder and dragged her to the side to continue their conversation in private. Theo just nodded.

Walker was making a slow recovery at his feet. Theo glanced at him. "Can you stand?"

"I wouldn't want to try." Walker groaned lowly.

"I wouldn't blame you."

"You think we can trust them, Cap'n?" Walker asked in a low grumbly voice.

"No." Theo's one word answer needed no explanation. "Keep your enemies close, Walker."

In response he just nodded, clutching his wound. From the shrubbery behind them, Crypt approached with Mouz not far behind. Theo heard Crypt calling from behind him and turned to greet them. Stretching a hand to Mouz, "Good to have you back with us, Sergeant."

Mouz shook his hand, looking over his commander. "Wish I could say the same for you, sir. You don't look your best."

"I don't feel my best, to be quite honest with you, Mouz." Theo saw himself for a second time in the visor of his teammate. He had become even more damaged by the fight. His visor cracked and shards hung from the brim. The straps supporting his armor were tattered and chewed, one of them completely snapped. Two of the three 50 .cal rounds attached to his left shoulder bent and hung from the crash.

Goliath didn't budge from the situation, still hovering over the team from a few feet. Mouz finally took mention to him, flinching at the sight. "Introduce me to your new friend?"

Theo crossed his arms again, "Hell if I know 'em. They call him Goliath. He don't talk much."

Goliath very slowly lifted an arm and waved the bulk in the air once, slowly. "Fitting." Mouz responded, waving back.

"Mouz, do your comms work by any chance?" Theo asked.

"Hang on. I'll check." He turned his back, raising two fingers to his helmet and strutting off.

Zakk cleared his throat audibly from behind to get their attention. "We'll torch and burn our old camp. Just as long as we have a deal." He hesitantly and almost nervously extended his hand to shake hands with Captain Veritas.

Theo watched him raise his own hand, before gripping the handshake he whispered to him. "I don't shake hands with unjust men." He then took his hand and gripped it hard. Theo took a step to the right, standing directly in front of Karma. He extended his hand. She gave him a quick look, before slapping her own hand into his and shaking. Theo did the same to Goliath, looking up at him from his cracked vision. The white giant shook his hand, his grip nearly paining Captain Veritas's hand.

"So, we have a deal?" Karma asked.

"No. we have an agreement. We're in this fight with Roev together. You let eClipse handle what we need to handle and you handle what you need. You're going to be under high surveillance. DON'T get any funny ideas." Theo said.

"I don't plan to bite the hand that feeds us." Zakk answered in return.

Crypt stood by for the conversation, asking Theo, "What agreement? What did we agree on?"

"These people know more than we do on some important information. We'll house them at Grim and keep them on a tight watch until these matters are done." Theo tried to explain as best as he could, "They'll be under high surveillance and kept an eye on. I'll brief everyone on the way back."

Mouz turned back to the team. "Got a signal and they're on their way. Sending an evac bird to our current location."

"Tell them to send two." Theo quickly glanced at Goliath. "Gonna need the extra for some precious cargo."

Mouz stared back at him before raising his fingers to his helmet. "Command, send two evac birds, I repeat, two evac birds. Got something that needs the extra weight."

"And get a medic! A medic would be appreciated." Walker called from the ground.

"And send a doctor. We've got wounded apparently. Oh, and an order of large fries while you're at it." Mouz sarcastically uttered.

The Pelican dropships both had enough room to fit in the clearing. They landed, kicking up dirt and opening their hanger doors. Doctor Hullerman stepped out of one of the dropships, approaching eClipse. A Medic in training followed him. His hazel eyes darted to the members of the White Plague under his tinted glasses. His jaw hung open as if he had seen a ghost, and he stopped walking.

"Doctor?" Crypt asked. He just stood in his path without moving. The trainee stopped behind him, confused.

Zakk stared back at the doctor. "Hullerman." Zakk said, turning his body towards him. Karma did the same. Goliath, however, had a different reaction. The bulk of armor stepped forward slowly, clunking the grounds with his massive boots with each step. "Goliath. Stop." Zakk warned.

With each step Goliath took, Hullerman took two back. Theo stood in the middle of the two. "Doctor? How do they know you?" He asked.

"Get… Get that monster away from me!" Hullerman demanded. His trainee was lost in the event. Goliath began taking large strides towards the Doctor.

"Goliath! Get back!" Zakk drew his sidearm and trailed Goliath's movement. It didn't stop him. Theo jumped in front of him, pushing him back while Hullerman fled back to the Pelican. Crypt jumped on him too to help. Goliath began pushing both of them back, dragging their boots across the ground. He batted Crypt away with ease. Hullerman crouched a few yards away in front of the ship, hiding his head in his arms.

"Calm your monster!" Theo grunted while attempting to stop his onslaught. Goliath pushed Captain Veritas aside, now hovering over the doctor. He didn't appear to be hurting him, just observing him in his pitiful state.

"Goliath!" Karma screamed.

"Sergei! Please!" Hullerman screamed.

Nobody moved. Goliath took a stride back.

"Yes… Sergei… Please, I don't want to hurt you." Karma strutted over to Goliath, reaching up and placing a hand on the brute's shoulder.

"It's okay, Goliath. Let him be. He's worthless to you, anyway."

"Yes… Please. I don't want to hurt you." Goliath turned a blind eye to Karma, storming off back to Zakk. On his way, he extended an arm to Crypt to help him up off the ground from when he had pushed him. Crypt accepted his hand and was lifted to his feet. Karma stood by Doctor Hullerman, who was rising to his feet now, patting the dirt off his trousers. "Thank you, Catherine."

"Yeah, don't get too friendly, Doctor." She left a long pause before addressing him. Karma walked back to the Team while Mouz and Crypt helped Walker up, bringing him over to the Trainee.

"Plague, that's your bird." Theo pointed to the Pelican adjacent to theirs. "It won't leave until I give the order. Get in there and don't move." He didn't wait for their response, but instead approached Hullerman.

"Captain Veritas, I'm…"

"Save it." Veritas approached him quickly, and upon reaching him, lifted him by his shoulders violently pinning him against the wall of the dropship. "How do you know them!?" He screamed through his damaged helmet.

Hullerman just stared back in astonishment, his glasses fell to the ground. He tried to respond, but couldn't form any words.

"Doctor Hullerman, How. Do. You. Know. Them!?" The rest of the team watched from a safe distance, not intervening.

"I…I…I" He stuttered. "I worked with them in… in the past!"

"You were assisting an insurrectionist group!?" Theo slammed him up against the wall again.

"When they were still a Spartan Deployment! Before Captain Ryder! Please, Captain!"

Theo dropped him. "You were their medic?"

"Y…Yes." He answered, disgruntled.

"Hullerman. I know when you're lying to me." Theo hovered over him, crossing his arms.

The doctor looked up into his eyes, cleaning off his glasses. "Then you should know I'm telling the truth."

Theo grabbed him, pulling him back up to his feet. "Then bury your little feud with them. Because you'll be riding with them on the way back." The doctor nodded, closing his eyes and placing the glasses back on his face.

"Sir?" The trainee medic approached quickly. "You're teammate will be fine. He just needs a few days off his feet to recover."

"Alright, corporal. Load him on the bird and then find a home with either Pelican."

**Chapter 13: Stowaways**

"I can not believe this." Mouz said astonished.

"Yeah, sir. Are we really going to let them stay with us? After they tried to kill you? I mean, that huge one, Goliath, how can we even trust him? Is he even human?" Crypt asked concerned.

"No, Crypt. I don't mean about that. I mean I can't believe they forgot my large fry." Mouz disappointedly tossed his helmet to the ground and held it between his legs.

"We got bigger problems than food, Mouz." Crypt whined.

"We never have any problems bigger than food." Walker groaned.

"Can it, you two." Theo barked. "Crypt's right about them, they can't be trusted and aren't trusted. But here's the bitter sweet part. Neither are any of us. The UNSC…" Veritas paused, removing his helmet and instructed his men to do the same. "The UNSC proved to us today that they don't trust us. What else do we have to lose from them?"

"Our lives, and the safety of everyone else at that base!" Crypt complained.

"Which is why I'll take the liberty of watching them. Making sure they aren't going anywhere. I'll have Novice set up every piece of spyware he's got." Theo reassured him, "We are safer harboring them as stowaways than we are if we let them loose."

Crypt looked down, nodding slowly. "I suppose…" He said, "I suppose you're right. But I'm still concerned about that huge one, I mean, what the hell is he? Why doesn't he ever speak?"

Theo pondered before responding. "We'll get more answers from them when we've arrived." The soft roar of the Pelican dropship's engines grew quieter as they approached Fort Grim. Follwing behind eClipse's ship was the one harboring the members of White Plague and the medics. They came in for a soft landing on the helipad atop the watchtower.

Inside the cabin of the ship, Mouz fiddled with a piece of his armor that was damaged in the previous crash, while Walker laid on a wheeled-in medical gurney. Theo asked, "What do you think about Hullerman knowing them?"

"He said he was their medic. He knew their names, didn't he?" Crypt asked in return.

"Yeah. He called the big one 'Sergei'." Mouz said, making his words stand out with a series of hand motions. "If that's not a Reach name, then I don't know what is."

"It could either be Reach or Harvest. Russia colonized both, and that name is definitely Russian." Theo said while trying to remove the dangling fibers from some straps on his armor.

The hanger doors opened while the other Pelican touched down beside it, and out stepped the three Spartans, and out rolled one more onto the landing bay atop the watch tower. The doctor stepped out first from the second bird, after landing. Theo glared at him relentlessly. "Debriefing. Now."

"I have taken the liberty of equipping their barrack with the highest level security software I am allowed access to." Novice shimmered a deep orange as he spoke in the darkness of the room, containing only Doctor Hullerman and Captain Veritas. "They don't classify as any level of threat."

"Perfect. Keep an eye on them at all times, Novice. Just to be safe." Veritas asked of him.

"Of course, sir. I will begin monitoring the new members as of now." He faded from the panel, dampening the room's lights.

Veritas gave Hullerman the same cold gaze, speechless and damaged. "Am I going to begin, or are you?"

"Go ahead." The doctor replied, stuttering as he did when nervous.

"I have too many questions for one day, doctor."

"As do I, captain."

"Excuse me? I think your little lab rat experiment can wait until after we've discussed this." Theo crossed his arms, speaking in a low, nearly hushed tone. "Now, let's start with the basics, where and when were you aware of the plague's existence?"

"Sir, do you mean as the insurgence force or the initial deploy-…?"

"Initial." Theo interrupted, "When did you first meet them."

"Well, sir," the doctor said, his mouth hanging open for various words. "I met them when I was first deployed to Fort Grim, as were they."

"Their deployment was centered here?" Theo batted an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yes. In fact, they were the Spartan deployment directly before you. The only other inhabitants of this way-base. I'm the only remaining staff member from those times as well."

"I want to know what it is you're after, Zakk. Getting all snug in this place with these people, you really expect them to help you? First chance they get, I say that egotistical commander books us all in for treason!" Karma, not looking anyone in the face when talking, laid on her back atop her bunk, armor removed with the black latex suit still covering her body.

"Karma, there is a lot more to this than even we know, and we don't have the equipment, firepower, or mass to stop it." Zakk argued.

"Neither do they. All they have now is our dead weight, and Goliath here weighs a ton." She patted Goliath's shoulder plating, he still wore his suit of armor.

"But they aren't much different from us, Karma." Zakk replied.

"Uh, Zakk? News flash! In what ways are they like us? What, because we share the same fucking armor? Huh? Because we served the same corrupted shithole of a superpower? Because, Zakk, last time I checked, eClipse has it pretty fucking good! They aren't on the run from the military, they aren't making a living by hunting their own food, occasionally knocking off a convoy of ammunitions, and sulking every night knowing that you're practically dead if you step into the wrong light. eClipse might as well be in Heaven while we carry Heaven on our backs! Zakk, they have it easy. We have it hard, much harder than them. Their lives are a cakewalk."

"Not for long, Karma… They're going to experience our lives first hand."

"What are their names?" Theo drilled Hullerman for everything he had.

"I'm not entirely sure."

"Don't bullshit me, Hullerman."

"The female, the specialist, her name is Catherine. Catherine… Ru, Rud… Rudiger! Yes, that was it. Catherine Rudiger." He replied in a slight southern drawl.

"Alright, and what do you know about Ms. Rudiger?" Theo clicked on a recording device on the table.

"Uhm… Well, Miss Rudiger is…" He took a long pause, "a very straight forward woman. Never one to beat around a point."

"I've noticed." Theo said under his breathe. "And what did Catherine do? What was her role on their team?"

"Catherine was a data specialist. She was practically their equivalent to Lieutenant Crypt. During her later stay at Fort Grim, she was officially diagnosed with Bipolar 1 Disorder, it grew worse with every day."

"I see," Theo asked, "Then why is she a marksman now?"

"She had gone through sniper school in training, but preferred to work with data retrieval. I suppose her skills as a marksman have increased after the fall of their deployment." Hullerman cleaned his glasses while speaking, not looking at Captain Veritas.

"Alright. Any more about Catherine Rudiger?"

"Er, not really. Her basic profile, possibly? She was a Sergeant First Class, the youngest member of the team. She has a very intolerant temper, that one. And quite the vocabulary and mouth to fit it."

Theo nodded slowly throughout his description. "Could you access her old files? Pull up her old service I.D, Dog tags, anything?"

"No. When I said 'data specialist', I meant it. After the situation with Captain Ryder, she managed to completely erase her and her partner's existence from the UNSC records. We could never find anything that remained." The doctor perched his glasses back on his face.

"Zakk, where are my glasses?" Karma asked after her rant, almost in a sweet voice.

"In your pouch? Did'ya check?" Zakk answered, still fully armored.

"No." She said sarcastically, "No, Zakk thank you for your wonderful advice. Next time I will most certainly check in the most obvious of spots before asking you."

"Well excuse me, if you'd…" Zakk turned around to look at her while talking, but stopped mid-sentence to find her smiling like an angel. She often did this, but it was never seen by anyone under her visor. Everyone always took her sarcasm and rude comments seriously, when in fact, she could even be giggling to herself about them. She had a crude sense of humor that Zakk shared.

Zakk stood up and sat next to her on her bunk. She remained laying down while Zakk sat up next to her, removing his helmet, which he didn't do on a regular basis. His face was a darker shade of Caucasian skin tone, and it was apparent he hadn't had a proper razor to shave with for months given the fact that his beard was patchy and in some areas completely non-existent. He had longer hair than anyone on eClipse team, a deep shade of brown that would almost be mistaken for black. He had no facial scars or discernible features that made him really stand out except for his patchwork appearance.

He placed his helmet next to her and she sighed, propping her head up against his leg and looking up at his face. "Hi, there."

"Heh… Hi." Zakk placed a hand on her shoulder tenderly, almost lovingly.

"I'm a different girl with that armor off, aren't I?" She asked him, smiling sweetly.

Zakk laughed. "Keep that bitch in that armor away from you."

"Watch it, you." Karma roughly punched him in the shoulder, then smirked. Her shorter cut blonde hair swished into her face, which she became annoyed by quickly.

With his armored up hands, Zakk brushed her hair from her eyes, smiling, which he rarely did. "We're all different people out of that armor. Except Goliath. He's dead without that damned thing."

"Knock it off, you insensitive prick." Karma playfully slapped Zakk, relaxing her head more against his thigh, closing her deep green eyes. Goliath stood, hovering over them with his arms crossed, shaking his massive head at the ground in disappointment. Karma opened an eye and scanned over him. "What is it, you big ape?"

Goliath simply threw his arms in the air and turned around jokingly.

"Hmmph, look at this Zakky." Karma teased.

"I thought we were over that name…"

"No, shut up. We're like one big dysfunctional family together." She smiled again.

"What does that make us?" Zakk said, laughing.

Karma gave him a disappointed and concerned look. "Brother and sister." She said sarcastically while throwing herself up from her bed. She came to her feet and stood, moaning softly while stretching. "And Goliath here, he's our new puppy." She threw her body weight against Goliath, who didn't budge, but just shook his head even more.

"The big one, Goliath, who or what the hell is he?" Theo continued.

"That one, he is certainly something, no?" Hullerman said. "He is human, believe it or not. But he is very… altered, so to speak…"

"Go on."

"His name is Sergei Hakostov. As you might tell, a very old sounding name, as he is very old himself." The doctor answered.

"I'm not sure I follow." Theo told him.

"In 2393, the Russians launched their secretive 'Dzhaggernaut' or Juggernaut program. Think of it as a very early type of Spartan, just with less genetic engineering, and more physical engineering. These men were easily 8 feet tall when finished with their initial treatment. Goliath, is one of these Dzhaggernauts."

"You're telling me that Goliath is multiple hundreds of years old?" Theo crossed his arms. "Okay, make me believe that."

"In 2395, the Dzhaggernauts were launched to cease a group of suspicious individuals way out in the arctic of Earth. One of them, Sergei Hakostov had a bit of an accident. He went overboard when the ship was struck with massive oncoming fire, cracked right through the ice and froze solid in the negative degree waters of the arctic." Hullerman said this without a stutter or hint of doubt in his mind. "Due to his experimental armor and physical condition, he was preserved almost perfectly in the ice for hundreds of years, until discovered by Oni." The doctor cleared his throat. "He was thawed, and living, however his vital organs and other functions of his body were failing fast."

Theo was nearly on the edge of his seat, not knowing whether to trust his story as fact or fiction. "They froze him back into cryostasis while I examined him and built his suit of armor from the ground up."

"So Goliath, is human. Barely human." Theo summed up.

"In basic terms, yes. However he is human enough." Hullerman sighed.

"If this is true, and you saved him from freezing to death, then why does he hate you so much? And why is he silent?" Captain Veritas had more questions than answers.

"Easy, now." The doctor said. "He can't speak because his diaphragm was damaged beyond repair when he was unfrozen. He was booked for surgery only a week after they went rogue."

"There are some holes in your story that will need to be filled." Theo said, not quite looking at anything.

"To be fair," Hullerman said, "There were some holes in his. We still can't be too sure, but one thing is for sure, they love him like their own and wouldn't stand to allow something to happen to him."

"Zakk, I swear you hide my glasses whenever I'm out of my armor just to get me back for something I said while in it." Karma joked. "Not cool." She dug through every pouch on her armor in search of her reading glasses.

"What do you need them for exactly?" Zakk asked.

"Reading, duh. Come on, Zakk. I knew you were stupid, but not THIS stupid." She pouted over the items strewn across her bunk, none of them being her glasses.

Just then, Novice appeared on a panel by the door, speaking to the White Plague members. "Hello and welcome, new members, to Fort Grim. May I ask you all to state your names and rank?"

Zakk, Karma and Goliath all glanced back and forth at each other awkwardly. "Novice?" Zakk called.

"Yes? May I ask how you knew my name?" The AI asked.

"I, uh…" Zakk struggled.

"Veritas told us." Karma quickly said.

"Ah, of course. May I have your names?"

"Ca-…" Karma paused. "Lizzy Ballenger." Zakk looked at her strangely, but understood her alias.

"Ah, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Ballenger." Novice looked towards Goliath. "And you, sir?"

Zakk cut in. "He was injured and can't speak. His name is… Uh… Adolf… Hit-… uh…" Zakk struggled again.

"Adolf Hitshire" Karma interrupted, kicking Zakk discreetly.

Novice observed every movement with the spyware that he had installed. "Pleasure, Mr. Hitshire." Now looking at Zakk, "And you, sir?"

"Activate override priority Delta-Clipse-Zwei!" Zakk yelled. Upon hearing those words combined in that way, Novice began flickering, grabbing his head, and falling to a kneel.

He screamed, "W-what are… are you doing to… me!?"

"Don't fight it, Novice!" Zakk screamed. Since Zakk, Karma and Goliath's files were made to never exist, Karma had installed a fail-safe on Novice back when they had still occupied Fort Grim. The words caused an override process to occur.

"Lieutenant… H-how may I h-help you?" Novice stood, regaining his encrypted knowledge. His voice flailed and kicked when he spoke, trying to free himself from the mental grasp.

"Access files." Karma approached him. "Transfer all files regarding Kazdominion Parasomi to this device." She grabbed Zakk's arm and yanked him over in front of the panel, holding his tac-pad out to the screen.

"T-transfer complete, m-ma'am." Novice fought the override more and more each second.

"Access files. Copy and transfer everything you have on 'Albino' to this device." Once again, she jerked Zakk's forearm into view of the panel.

"T-trans-sfer c-complet-te aaaahhggg NO!" He broke free of the trance put on him by Zakk. "You three, whoever you are, can not be trusted!" He blipped off the panel as quickly as he came.

"Fuck, Karma! Now we're in deep shit!" Zakk proclaimed.

"No, Zakk. Not when we tell them everything." Karma corrected him.

"Karma, we're not ready to tell them everything…"

"What about their leader, Zakk? What can you tell me about him?" Theo asked.

Before Hullerman had a chance to answer, Novice appeared on the panel besides the door, exclaiming "Sirs! Sirs, there's been a problem with the newcomers! They've used an override on me, took valuable highly protected information!"

Theo stood up, his chair falling backwards and smashing to the ground, he ran to the door, his boots trotting hard against the floor. Flinging open the door, he hopped some railing and ran quickly to the barracks. The doctor followed closely behind him, jogging at a slower pace. Veritas gripped his knife, unsheathing it as he approached their door, he screamed from a distance, "Novice, unlock the door!"

There was no reply except for the door screeching open a few meters in front of him. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he entered the room, seeing all of White Plague huddle together staring at Zakk's tactical pad. Their heads turned, Karma jumped back taking a fighting stance whilst Zakk held his hands to the air.

"None of you move!" Veritas demanded. "You're stealing information? Novice better be having a fucking malfunction or I misheard, because I'm not dealing with theft today!"

"Neither are we," Zakk said in a calm voice. "Hear me out."

"I'm done hearing you out! I don't give a damn about your explanations, this isn't about you anymore!"

Karma shouted, "Goliath is dying!"

"You all are!" Theo yelled in return.

"No, seriously, he's dying and we need this information to save his life!" Karma demanded. Hullerman trotted up behind Captain Veritas, panting for breathe. "Tell him, doctor! Tell him about Albino, all of the information, not the bullshit you've been sputtering!"

Theo paused, gripping the knife tight, he didn't take an eye off of Zakk or Karma. Goliath sat as still as the walls around him. "Doctor, what the hell is she talking about?" Theo asked.

Hullerman said nothing, but slowly took small strides backwards. With each step he took, Karma took a step forward. "Tell him, Hullerman! Tell him about how you saved Goliath, about what Albino really is and what it would do to him!"

He continued to stride backwards, mouth agape. Theo shouted, "Novice, lock the door." The doors slammed shut in front of the doctor as Zakk lowered his arms. "That night, in the labs with you, Zakk. Is that what you were after? The Albino serum?"

"Y-yeah… That's what we needed. Without it, Goliath is going to die." Zakk said.

"Hullerman." Theo called, without turning to face him. "Hullerman, you said I'd be the first to test it. You lied?"

Silence again, eerie and frightening. The only sound was the soft hum of the lights above them.

"Why do you trust them, Theo?" Hullerman uttered from deep in his throat.

"Because so far, they've told me a lot more about what I want to know than the U.N.S.C has. That includes you, now WHAT IS ALBINO?" Theo turned, and approached him as he cowered up against a wall.

"It…" He stuttered, "It's what keeps this man alive. It's a rare element infused with a blood…"

"Why did you give it to him?" Theo had nothing but questions in store for him.

"He was dying when we found him." Hullerman cowered, throwing his arms in front of his face. "He needed an extra push to stay alive, and we needed a test subject for Albino."

Theo looked over his shoulder, Karma nodded in agreement along with Zakk. Goliath sat exhaustedly and quiet, not moving a muscle. "There's a glitch in his armor. His Albino supply is running dangerously low." Said Zakk. "Basically, he's running out of blood."

Hullerman peered around his own arms wearily. "If Albino is all you need, I have developed more of the serum and would be happy to supply him with the efficient amount to stay alive."

**Chapter 14: Albino**

Goliath laid in full armor stretched across a cold metal table in the depths below Fort Grim. Next to him, a decent sized glass tube of white bubbly liquid sat, connected to his large cylindrical chest plate through a thin pipe. Hullerman stood over him arms crossed, the light glaring off his dark glasses. "Won't be long now, Sergei." He stepped back and began typing a report into his databanks.

"Is he going to have to stay in the infirmary or something after this procedure?" Karma asked from several feet behind him. "There's no way he can immediately get back on his feet after flushing his blood."

"That's where you're wrong." Hullerman replied, never taking his eyes from the keyboard. "Albino is designed for immediate recovery. It quickly makes its way through the patient's bloodstream allowing for a quick recovery."

"Pfft, whatever you say." She kept her distance, arms folded across her chest. Zakk watched closely while the doctor administered the Albino to Goliath's unconscious body. Crypt was also present, assisting Hullerman with the patient, as he often did. He was the only member of eClipse team with some degree of medical training, however little it was.

After a few minutes of keys clacking and little movement, the canister of white liquid began draining into the Spartan's armor. Crypt looked towards Karma and Zakk, saying "Looks to me like a success. He'll be awake in an hour or so."

"How much time did he have left?" Zakk asked.

"You mean, without this procedure?" Crypt was removing the rubber gloves he had covering his bare skin. "You don't want to know."

Walker sat in his empty hospital bed, sighing in desperation over boredom. He felt better, why should he still be kept holed up in some claustrophobic infirmary? He sucked in a huge gasp of air, puffing his cheeks out wide and let out a gust from his lungs strong enough to cause him to cough, which caused another sigh.

There was a knock at the door and without any further warning, Mouz barged in on the room. In his hand was a small cup of water with a strange looking yellow flower limping over the side. "Oh, look. The angel of personality himself to save me from my boredom… Lord help me." Walker said, smiling over at Mouz with a strange sort of sarcastic glee to him.

"Shuddup, runt." Mouz answered in sarcasm. "Picked you a pretty flower." He placed the little arrangement on the nightstand next to his bed. Walker observed it for a moment with a curious grin.

"Is that..?" Walker paused. "Is that that weed that's been growing out the side of the barracks?"

"Aww, you remembered." Mouz said, grinning wildly and taking a seat by Walker's bedside. "If only you had remembered to pick the damn thing after the hundredth reminder, ya idiot."

"I'm not a gardener, Mouz." Walker protested. "Tying up loose weeds isn't my strong suit."

"Neither is listening to us, apparently." Mouz spoke while laughing nasally. "But hey, you're the Sergeant Major now, so what do I know?"

Walker ignored this comment and instead looked back over to the flowery weed that had been presented to him. "Did you honestly think that little shit in that glass over there would cheer me up?" He asked, still smiling with a sarcastic smirk.

"No." Mouz poked at it and said. "It just reminded me of you. Dried up and useless." He gave Walker a stupid looking smile and loosely hit his shoulder jokingly. This made Walker yelp out in exaggerated pain. "Aw shit, did I hit something?" Mouz asked, the carefree look leaving his eyes.

"Ugh, yeah." Walker sighed. "You hit me right in the fuck I don't give." He smirked.

Mouz grinned again, chuckling. "Asshole." He looked about the small infirmary room. "God, what do they feed you in this place?"

Walker made a face of sheer disgust. "I've yet to find out… But it can't be any worse than the utter boredom in here. Like, can I have a ball or something to bounce off the wall? I can't just sit here all day on my ass."

Mouz looked at him surprised. "Yes you could. You're you."

"Pfft, yeah." Walker replied. "If it's my choice. This, this isn't my choice. It's like I'm being forced to be a lazy ass hat."

"Heh!" Mouz croaked. "The only order you'd actually follow."

"Yeah, debatably." Walker coughed. The water in the cup beside him jotted around.

"Tell you what," Mouz pushed himself out of the chair. "I'll smuggle you some food from dinner tonight. That way you can feast like a king and sleep like the dog you are."

"Thank God somebody around here gets me." Walker fought off coughs from deep in his lungs.

"I'll be back later to deliver that to ya." Mouz said, slowly backpedalling to the door. "I've got other stuff to take care of until then."

Crypt began packing up utensils and small tools from the table with Goliath while Hullerman washed his hands off to the side. In the distance of the room, Zakk and Karma huddled around Zakk's wrist, the tiny screen on his armor displayed jumbled and garbled alien text, beside it, a translator. "You know, Dally came closer to finishing this than I thought." Zakk said.

"Just keep your wrist still, I can't read this because SOMEBODY hid my glasses." Karma bitched.

"Fine line between 'hid' and 'misplaced', Karma." Zakk protested.

"Whatever, just give me the chip from your tac-pad and I'll download it onto a console." Karma said, fiddling with his forearm's armor.

"And risk the information being lost again if that AI decides it's too risky to allow us to have?" Zakk asked, pulling his arm away. "No thanks, I think I can decipher this last sentence pretty well on my own."

"He never taught you the key, Zakk. Don't be an imbecile." Karma said, reaching for his arm but he retracted it too quickly and she grabbed at the air.

Crypt, finishing up, approached them. "Read that translation back to me so far."

"Well, so far we only have what Captain Ryder managed to translate before his untimely demise." Zakk said, poking around at the screen. "But so far it seems like some sort of call to arms, so to speak. Like a call for rebellion. It's like they're planning something, but we can't tell what."

Crypt asked, "How much is left to translate?" as he wiped off the counter where Goliath lay unconscious.

"Not much. Just a few more words, well, numbers from the looks of it." Zakk answered. "Doesn't look like it makes much sense. Should only take an hour or so." He never looked up when he spoke. He pressed a few buttons on his arm and out popped the tac-pad. He grabbed Karma's attention and handed it to her. "Here, do whatever you want with it. I still have something to do." She nodded back to him and just like that, he walked out the door and up the stairs to the surface of Fort Grim.

"Sergei should be fine in an hour or so, Ms…"

"Karma. Just call me that." She interrupted Hullerman without looking in his general direction. Karma acted as if she owned him.

Atop it all, in the towering glass giant sat Captain Veritas. Strewn out before him were digital copies of all of the files Zakk had allowed to resurface when he broke Novice's protocol. None of it made sense to Theo, it was all the nonsensical work left over from Dallas Ryder, but to the White Plague, it seemed to be significant, therefore it was significant to him as well.

"Novice, do you make any sense of these symbols?" He asked, pointing out the strange code written before him.

"No, sir. It doesn't register as any known species written language." The computer voice replied. "However, I've done some searches regarding them."

"Results?" Theo asked. He tapped a pen against the table rhythmically.

"Nothing. It's as if these symbols are completely new to the world." Novice replied.

"So it must be code then, something kept so far on the DL that no outsider had ever understood it." Theo said.

"That is quite correct." Novice hummed.

"So that must be why Ryder was killed, then. Because he had come so far in discovering the truth behind this message. Roev figured this out somehow and had him disposed of." Theo rubbed his hands together. "Simple as that. Only question left is how did Kazdominion figure out how close he was to finishing?"

Behind him, the doors screeched away and behind them stood Zakk, never losing his pace as he strutted into the desolate room. "Mind if I join you?"

"Yes, actually." Barked Theo without turning to face him. He could see the reflection of himself and Zakk approaching in the great panes of glass before him.

"Good, I think that was the first thing I've heard you say all day that wasn't a direct question." Zakk said, pulling up a chair and taking a seat a few slots away.

Theo nodded at Novice, and he nodded in return before flickering off. "Do you ever get tired of being a sarcastic asshole?" He asked.

"Never have, never will." Zakk said, folding his hands on the table. "Where are you from, captain?" Zakk asked sincerely.

Theo glanced at him under the sneer of his cold metallic visor. "You want to know? What for?"

"I don't know." Zakk slurred almost like his mouth was full of food. "Just thought I'd kill the tension."

Theo leaned over. "Tell you what, I'll let you know where I'm from, hell, I'll tell you everything your heart desires." The light gleamed through the glass and began fading with the day as later evening approached, drowning out the light and bringing on the darkness.

"I'm from Tribute. You may only know of it through legend, but I'm from the city of Casbah itself. Witnessed the fall from my own eyes." It always pained Theo to speak of the fall, but he relived it every night to himself, he might as well relive it to Zakk.

"Christ. Have, uh, any family?" Zakk became hesitant.

"I did. I was born to a middle class family from Grentora, Tribute, but we later moved to Casbah because of my father's business. He was a sort of stock broker, or so he told." Theo gestured his hands to display his sarcasm.

"Or so he told? What did your father really do?" Zakk asked.

"He was a hitman, a mercenary. My brother Gregory and I figured this out when we were around ten years old. Greg was my twin brother, by the way."

"_Was?_" Zakk scoffed.

"Was." Theo replied in an anguish filled tone. "Gregory died serving the UNSC when his ship went down over Earth a little while's after I became an officer." He leaned back in his seat.

Zakk was oddly at the edge of his. "S-so, your brother is dead? Do you have any other family?"

Theo sighed, "My parents died in the fall of Tribute as well as my wife. The only possible Veritas left is my brother Riah."

Zakk remained suspiciously quiet. "What do you mean, possible?" he finally asked.

"Riah ran off as a kid. He always looked up to Greg, and when mom and pop wouldn't let him join the UNSC like his big brother, he ran off. We never heard from him again." Theo said with a hint of horror in his voice. "He could be dead, he could be living, I'll never know."

Zakk looked engaged when he spoke, "Have you ever tried to find him?"

"Yes, of course."

"No luck?"

"Of course not."

To be continued and updated accordingly…

"_In a society that has destroyed all adventure, the only adventure left is to destroy that society."_

_-Unknown_

91


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